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Specific Surface Area and Three-Dimensional Nanostructure Measurements of Porous Titania Photocatalysts by Electron Tomography and Their Relation to Photocatalytic Activity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2011

Kenta Yoshida ,
Masaki Makihara ,
Nobuo Tanaka ,
Shinobu Aoyagi ,
Eiji Nishibori ,
Makoto Sakata ,
Edward D. Boyes  and
Pratibha L. Gai
Kenta Yoshida*
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, The University of York, Heslington, York TO10 5BR, UK Nanostructures Research Laboratory, Japan Fine Ceramics Center, 2-4-1 Mutsuno, Atsuta-ku, Nagoya 456-8587, Japan
Masaki Makihara
Affiliation:
Department of Crystalline Materials Science and Ecotopia Science Institute, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan
Nobuo Tanaka
Affiliation:
Department of Crystalline Materials Science and Ecotopia Science Institute, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan
Shinobu Aoyagi
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Physics, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan
Eiji Nishibori
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Physics, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan
Makoto Sakata
Affiliation:
SPring-8/JASRI, Kouto, Sayo, Hyogo 679-5198, Japan
Edward D. Boyes
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, The University of York, Heslington, York TO10 5BR, UK The York JEOL Nanocentre, The University of York, Heslington, York TO10 5BR, UK
Pratibha L. Gai
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, The University of York, Heslington, York TO10 5BR, UK Department of Physics, The University of York, Heslington, York TO10 5BR, UK The York JEOL Nanocentre, The University of York, Heslington, York TO10 5BR, UK
*
Corresponding author. E-mail: ky512@york.ac.uk
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Abstract

Various porous titania photocatalysts are analyzed three-dimensionally in real space by electron tomography. Shapes and three-dimensional (3D) distributions of fine pores and silver (Ag) particles (2 nm in diameter) within the pores are successfully reconstructed from the 3D data. Electron tomography is applied for measuring the specific surface area of the porous structures including open and closed porosity. Calculated specific surface areas of 22.8 m2/g for a conventional sol-gel TiO2 sample and 366 m2/g for a highly porous TiO2 sample prepared using the Pluronic P-123 self-assembly process are compared with those measured by the general BET method. The real-space surface measurement indicates that the highly porous TiO2 produced by the present method using block copolymers has a greater number of effective reaction sites for the degradation of methylene blue. Electron tomography shows a great potential to contribute considerably to the nanostructural analysis and design of such catalyst materials for photocatalysis.

Keywords

photocatalystporous materialelectron tomographyheterogeneitynanocatalysisTiO2
Type
Material Applications
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , April 2011 , pp. 264 - 273
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2011

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