Preparation of efficient titanium oxide photocatalysts by an ionized cluster beam (ICB) method and their photocatalytic reactivities for the purification of water

Using an ionized cluster beam (ICB) method, titanium oxide photocatalysts w ere prepared on porous Vycor silica glass (PVG) and activated carbon fibers (ACF), and their photocatalytic reactivities for the degradation of a-prop anol diluted in water was investigated. Characterizations of these catalyst s by means of SEM, XAFS, XRD, XPS and UV-Vis absorption techniques showed t hat the titanium oxide in transparent thin films could be formed on PVG and titanium oxide clusters could be deposited on the ACF UV irradiation of th ese catalysts in a diluted aqueous solution of 2-propanol or 1,2-dichloroet hane led to the efficient decomposition of these reactants into CO2, H2O an d HCl. The titanium oxide catalysts prepared on these porous materials exhi bited higher photocatalytic reactivities than TiO2 powder and titanium oxid e catalysts prepared by a conventional impregnation method. The present res ults have clearly shown that the ICE method is useful in the preparation of titanium oxide photocatalysts combined with porous supports such as PVG an d ACF (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.