Author(s)

Yu-Wen Chen^*, Der-Shing Lee

Department of Chemical and Material Engineering, Nanocatalysis Research Centre, National Central University, Taoyuan.

A series of Ag@TiO₂ catalysts with core-shell structure were successfully synthesized by a sol-gel method. The samples were prepared by a sol-gel method using silver nitrate, hydrazine, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide and titanium tetra-isopropoxide as the starting materials. The catalysts were characterized by ICP-MS, XRD, TEM, HRTEM and XPS. The results indicated that the silver core was in metallic state and the TiO₂ shell was in anatase state. The size of Ag nanoparticles in core was about 5 and 10 nm, and the shell size of titanium dioxide was 10 and 20 nm. The core was single crystalline Ag nanoparticle and the shell was made up of many TiO₂ nanoparticles. The photocatalytic activity of Ag@TiO₂ was much higher than that of bare TiO₂. Large amounts of hydroxyl groups were present on the surface of TiO₂. The catalysts which were treated by hydrothermal method had the higher lattice oxide percentage and higher photocatalytic activities. The core-shell structure can prevent Ag from aggregation.

Green Catalyst, Photocatalyst Titania, Silver

Chen, Y. and Lee, D. (2014) Photocatalytic Destruction of Methylene Blue on Ag@TiO₂ with Core/Shell Structure. Open Access Library Journal, 1, 1-14. doi: 10.4236/oalib.1100504.