Photocatalytic degradation of Reactive Black 5 - A comparison between TiO2-Tytanpol A11 and TiO2-Degussa P25 photocatalysts

The present studies provide the results from a comparison of two photocatal ysts in form of titanium dioxide: TiO2-Tytanpol A11 commercially produced o n Polish market by Police Company and the most popular titanium dioxide use d in investigations - P25 produced by Degussa Company. Photocatalytic oxida tion of azo-dye Reactive Black 5 (R135) was chosen as the test reaction. Th e titania materials have been characterised by several analytical methods, like XRD, Fr-IR/DRS and DR UV-VIS. The effect of operational parameters suc h as quantity of photocatalyst and pH of reaction medium on the photocataly tic degradation of R135 in water has been investigated. The degrees of R135 decomposition were lower by about 30% for A11 than for P25 in all cases. I t can be stated that this lower activity of A11 results from different phys ical properties of two titania materials. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. Al l rights reserved.