Synthesis and Photocatalytic Activity of Titania Pillared Clays

TiO2-pillared clays such as montmorillonite, saponite and mica were prepared with an intercalation of polynuclear titanium complex formed by the reaction of Ti(i-C3H7O)4 and acetic acid. Characterization of the products was performed by XRD, XPS, IR, UV-V spectra, the measurement of surface area and pore size distribution. The photocatalytic decomposition of carboxylic acids has been studied on TiO2-pillared montmorillonite, saponite and mica. TiO2-pillared mica showed higher catalytic activity than TiO2 for the photocatalytic decomposition of acetic acid and adipic acid. On the contrarily, TiO2 was the most active catalyst and TiO2-pillared mica showed low activity for the photocatalytic decomposition of capric acid. The results show that the molecular size of carboxylic acid contributes to the catalytic activity of TiO2-pillared clays.