Abstract:
In this work, titanium dioxide powders were synthesis by sol-gel process with titanium(IV) tetra-isopropoxide
as a precursor and ethanol as a solvent. Two types of organic compounds which are diethanolamine and trietha
nolamine were used as additive in synthesizing process. The studied parameters included type of additive, mole
ratio of titanium(IV) tetra-isopropoxide to ethanol, and calcination temperature to compare the photocatalytic
activity. The obtained titanium dioxide powders using diethanolamine and triethanolamine were tested to find
photocatalytic activity in chromium removal. It was found that using triethanolamine in synthesis process provided
higher efficiency in chromium removal than using diethanolamine. The optimum ratio of titanium(IV) tetra-isopropoxide
: triethanolamine was 1 : 1.0. In this work, calcination temperature exhibited pronounced effect on titanium dioxide
characteristics and photocatalytic activity. The highest efficiency in chromium(VI) removal was found at 500?C with
anatase as the major crystalline phase. In addition, at this temperature the crystallite size was smallest and had highest surface area.