A Low Temperature Fabricationand Photoactivity of Al₂ TiO₅ in Cinnamic Acid Degradation

Abstract

Aluminum titanate was fabricated by sol-gel method using aluminium nitrate, titanium isopropoxide as precursors and citric acid as a complexing reagent. Effects of calcination temperature, citric acid content and calcination duration on the formation of Al₂TiO₅ (ATO) phase were investigated by X-ray diffraction. The results showed that the ATO-rich mixture with traces of anatase TiO₂ was obtained at low calcination temperature (700°C). The properties of obtained ATO were characterized by various methods such as FTIR, N₂ isotherm adsorption, DRS, SEM, TEM, and TGA. The point of zero charge of sample was also determined by salt addition method. Owning band gap energy of 3.42 eV the nanostructured ATO could be activated by UV light to become photocatalyst. Indeed, at favorable reaction conditions, detected from the experiment, the obtained ATO gave the photodegradation efficiency of cinnamic acid (CA) approximately 90% after 6 h. ATO also showed high stability and easily separated from solution, consequently after 9 times of reusing the CA degradation extent lightly decreased about 20%.