Low-temperature synthesis of water-dispersible anatase titanium dioxide nanoparticles for photocatalysis

Water-dispersible anatase TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized at a low temperature (80 degrees C) without using surfactants via the mechanism of electrostatic stabilization. The water-dispersible TiO2 nanopartides solution was stable and no precipitation occurred after 3 months. Photocatalytic evaluation demonstrated that the as-synthesized TiO2 nanoparticles possess excellent quinoline degradation performance (a 2.33 x 10(-2) min(-1) apparent reaction rate constant comparing to 1.22 x 10(-2) min(-1) for P25) and recycle stability (the photocatalytic activity remained 96.6% of the initial activity after four cycles of repetitive uses). These could be attributed to the small size and good water-dispersibility of the as-synthesized TiO2 nanoparticles that led to large specific surface area and easy photogenerated electron-hole transportation. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.