Effect of calcination temperature on the structural properties and photocatalytic activities of solvothermal synthesized TiO2 hollow nanoparticles

TiO2 hollow nanoparticles were prepared by the solvothermal method, calcined at different temperatures and characterized by XRD, BET, SEM, PL and FT-IR. The effects of morphology, size and calcination temperature on the photocatalytic activity of the prepared materials were discussed in detail. It was found that the calcination temperature altered the crystallinity, morphology, surface area, and the porous structure. The photocatalytic activity of the TiO2 powders evaluated through photocatalytic degradation of gaseous acetone under UV-light irradiation, showed TiO2 calcined at 250 degrees C to exhibit a higher photocatalytic activity than commercial powders (Degussa P25). (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.