Preparation and photoactivity of titanium dioxide-coated carbon felt using supercritical carbon dioxide

TiO2-coated carbon felt (TCF) was prepared via a supercritical treatment with titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) and different carbon felt as a precursor and support, respectively. The TCF samples with different carbon felts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, UV-VIS spectroscopy, particle size analyzer and BET surface area. The photocatalytic activities of samples were evaluated by congo red (CR) degradation. The result reveals that all the three samples show much higher photoactivity than the commercial P25. The activity order of the three samples is TCF1 < TCF2 < TCF3. The photoactivity is strongly dependent on the surface area and the crystallite size: the larger the surface area and the smaller the crystallites, the higher the efficacy of photocatalytic degradation. The optimal photocatalytic condition is a CR concentration of 45 mg/l at pH 7.