Structural and Photocatalytic Properties of TiO2/Zeolite Synthesized using Sol-Gel Method

Abstract

Titanium dioxide (TiO 2) is supported into natural zeolite to enhance its photocatalytic activity. TiO 2 /zeolite is synthesized using sol-gel method at composition ratio of 5:95; 10:90; 20:80 and 30:70%. Structural properties are measured by X-ray diffraction showed TiO 2 /zeolite in various composition has characteristic of anatase and modernite phase. The energy dispersive spectroscopy characterization shows TiO 2 /zeolite containing Ti element which indicates that TiO 2 i s successfully supported into natural zeolite. Vibration mode of Infrared and Raman spectra tend shifted to higher wavenumber as increasing of TiO 2 content indicating the higher energy vibration due to molecular interaction between TiO 2 and zeolite. Photocatalytic activity test toward methylene blue degradation shows that TiO 2 /zeolite has higher activity than TiO 2 and zeolite itself. Keywords: Photocatalyst, titanium dioxide, zeolite