TiO₂-Polysulfone Beads for Use in Photo Oxidation of Rhodamine B

Abstract

The nano sized TiO 2 has been synthesized by sol gel process. The titaniumisopropaxide diluted in propanol hydrolyzed under acidic condition to form a gel. The solvent from gel pores has been extracted at ambient pressure resulting in nano sized TiO 2 crystallites. The crystalline phase of TiO 2 could be assigned to anatase structure. An average crystallite size is about 12 nm. The surface area of TiO 2 found to be 235 m 2 /g. The TiO 2 nanocrystallites thus produced were blended with polysulphone to form its beads for ease of operation. These beads of TiO 2 were used as photo catalyst in conjunction with H 2 O 2 oxidizer in presence of UV light (254 nm) for treating the 50 ppm Rhodamine B aqueous solution. The solution decolorized within 10 minutes resulting in disappearance of absorption peak at around 600 nm in UV spectrometry. The organic entities degrade in about 60 minutes. The beads of nano sized TiO 2 could be easily recovered from the treated effluent for further use.