title: Transparent thin-film TiO2 photocatalysts with high activity.
abstract: A transparent, thin-film TiO2 layer prepared by sol-gel deposition is shown to be more active for photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) of acetaldehyde, acetic acid, and toluene than Degussa P25 thin films. The sol-gel TiO2 adsorbs 30-70% less organic, but the PCO activity per adsorbed molecule is 3.5-8.5 times higher on the sol-gel TiO2 than on Degussa P25. In addition, less-reactive intermediates do not appear to form as readily on the sol-gel catalyst as they do on Degussa P25, and thus the sol-gel catalyst deactivates slower during toluene PCO. Rates were measured in transient experiments for a monolayer of adsorbed organic, and transient experiments are shown to be an effective way to measure rates, selectivities, surface coverages, and formation of less-reactive intermediates in the same set of experiments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0424, USA.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Blount
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Falconer
mesh_terms: D000397:Air Pollution / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002384:Catalysis; D005740:Gases; D005782:Gels; D009930:Organic Chemicals; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010782:Photolysis; D017319:Photosensitizing Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D005740:Gases; D005782:Gels; D009930:Organic Chemicals; D017319:Photosensitizing Agents; C009495:titanium dioxide; D014025:Titanium