PRODUCTION OF SILVER LOADED PHOTOCATALYTIC TIO₂ POWDERS BY BALL MILLING

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to improve photocatalytic efficiency of TiO2 powder by silver doping and/or particle size reduction through mechanical ball milling. A planetary ball mill was employed to reduce the particle size of TiO2 powders to nanoscale and silver loading to TiO2 powders. Silver nitrate was used as silver source to obtain about 1% Ag load. Slurry taken from ball mill was separated by centrifugal separator into nano and micro sols. Separated nanosol was taken into the furnace to be dried at 103 degrees C and calcined at 400 degrees C for 1 hour to assist silver loading. X-Ray powder diffraction (XRD) was employed to identify the crystalline phases present in the powders produced. XRD results revealed that doped TiO2 powders were consisted of only anatase phase of TiO2. Changes in lattice parameters of TiO2 structure after doping were determined also by XRD. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and particle size analyzer were used for examining the size reduction effect of ball milling process. Photocatalytic performance of the powders was evaluated by Methylene Orange (MO) test under UV light illumination using UV-Spectrophotometer.