Degradation of AMARANTH with TiO2 Synthesised by Sol-Gel Process

Abstract

The photo-degradation of persistent contaminants in aqueous systems such as drugs, pesticides or dyes has been proposed as an alternative for the remediation of aqueous systems. TiO2 is one of the main photocatalysts that have been used for these purposes, it has two phases with photocatalytic properties, anatase and rutile, the latter being the one with the lowest conduction band 3.0 eV. The present work shows the synthesis of TiO2 by sol gel process, observing that the rutile phase is favored with heat treatment at temperatures above 600ºC, the comparative study of the degradation kinetics of AMARANTH with synthesized TiO2 and commercial TiO2 was evaluated, observing a rate constant of 1.38 and 0.345 Lmol-1min-1 for commercial and synthetic TiO2, respectively.