Effect of Silver Addition on the Structure and Methylene Blue Photodagradation Capacity of Titania Synthesised via a Surfactant Template Route

Abstract

Mesoporous titania was synthesized by a surfactant template route and was doped with Ag2O by treatment with AgNO3. Commercial anatase was also used as reference material. The obtained materials were characterized by nitrogen adsorption, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, solid state conductivity and X-ray diffraction. The inclusion of Ag reduced the specific area of the mesoporous material, modified its composition and aggregation state and produced heterogeneous surface depending on the Ag content. The conductivity of the solids is increased by Ag inclusion, but the increased activation energy reflects the difficulty of moving the larger Ag+ ions in comparison with Ti+ ones. Methylene blue was used as a reactive testing dye. The adsorption followed a first order kinetics. The thermodynamics of adsorption was studied. The photodegradation was studied by UV irradiation. The Ag-treated materials had better photodegradative behavior than the original non-doped one.