Formation Of Cobalt Coated TiO2 Nanotubes By Wet Impregnation

Kok, Fie Kie (2017) Formation Of Cobalt Coated TiO2 Nanotubes By Wet Impregnation. Project Report. Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Melaka, Malaysia. (Submitted)

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Abstract

Titanium dioxide (TiO2),also known as titania is a well known semiconducting material where widely used in many applications such as photocatalysis,solar cell,gas sensing,biomedical and many more.1D nanotube arrays have attracted more attention due to their outstanding properties by its relatively high aspect ratio.Compared to bulk materials,nanotubes structure posses many favourable characteristics that highly relevant for the improved performance in numerous applications.In this study,highly ordered and well aligned TiO2 nanotubes were successfully synthesized through anodization of Ti foil in ethylene glycol (C2H6O2) containing ammonium fluoride (NH4F) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) at 60 V for 30 minutes.Cobalt coating was applied to solve the TiO2 drawbacks.The wide band gap and high recombination rate restricted the utilization of TiO2 photocatalyst in solar spectrum.Cobalt coated TiO2 nanotubes were formed by wet impregnation technique.TiO2 nanotubes were dipped into CoCl2 precursor for certain soaking period.This diffusion interstitial process via wet impregnation was time dependent,which altered the amount of cobalt loaded in the nanotubes surface.With the presence of cobalt,it was found that the photodegradation activity under UV light irradiation was greatly enhanced as compared to bare TiO2 nanotubes.The cobalt loaded may act as the shallow traps that can help to separate photo-induced charge carriers effectively.By contrast,excessive content of cobalt existing on the wall surface of TiO2 nanotubes resulted in poorer photocatalytic performance because it formed independent layers that acted as recombination centers for the charge carriers.

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