Photo-degradation of Acid-red 3B dye catalyzed by TiO2 nanotubes

TiO2 nanotube precursor was synthesized by the hydrothermal reaction o f TiO2 powders with NaOH solution and the properties of the nanotube materials w ere tuned using different post-treatments. Transmission electron microscopic (TE M) observation revealed that the nanotube could be obtained by either a direct r inse with acid solution or rinse with distilled water followed by acid solution. The results of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and inductively coupled plasma (ICP) ana lysis indicated that the nanotube material was composed of H2Ti2O5·H2O. In addi tion, the photocatalytic activities of the resulting catalysts were found to be strongly dependent on the post-treatment. The results of the photocatalytic reac tion showed that the degradation of Acid-red 3B dye fitted pseudo-zero-order kin etics and TiO2 nanotube prepared under direct rinse with acid solution exhibited a higher catalytic efficiency compared to other catalysts.