The influence of different calcination atmosphere on the photocatalytic reactivity of water splitting to O2 over rutile TiO2

In this paper, the rutile TiO2 were prepared under air, Ar and H2 calcination atmosphere by low temperature hydrolysis using Tetrabutyl titanate (C16H36O4Ti) as raw material. Powers were characterized by X-ray diffraction, UV-vis diffuse reflectance and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The influence of the calcination atmosphere on the photocatalytic reactivity of rutile TiO2 for oxygen production was investigated. The photocatalytic reactivity of rutile TiO2 prepared under air, Ar and H2 atmosphere was compared under ultraviolet and visible light radiation with Fe3+ (c=8.0mmol.L-1) as electron acceptor. The results showed that rutile TiO2 prepared under Ar and H2 atmosphere had higher photocatalytic activity for oxygen production than that prepared under air atmosphere. The oxygen production rates under ultraviolet irradiation were 427.5, 378.2 and 357.0µmol.l-1h-1 respectively when rutile TiO2 was prepared under Ar, H2 and air atmosphere. The oxygen production rates under visible light irradiation were 78.2, 52.2 and 13.5µmol.l-1h-1 respectively when rutile TiO2 was prepared under Ar, H2 and air atmosphere.