Effect of calcination temperature of titanium dioxide (TiO2) on adsorption performance of doxycycline hydrochloride

In this work, titanium dioxide (TiO2) was synthesized at different calcination temperatures by sol-gel method using butyl titanate as raw material. The effect of calcination temperature on the crystallinity and adsorption properties of TiO2 were investigated at 300 °C, 450 °C and 600 °C, respectively. The characteristics of TiO2 were analysed by X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, nitrogen adsorption-desorption analyzer and zeta potential tester. The results showed that the crystal type, specific surface area and zeta potential of TiO2 nanoparticles changed with the increase of calcination temperature and the best performance of anatase crystals happened at the calcination temperature of 300 °C (TiO2@300) for doxycycline hydrochloride (DCH) adsorption. The equilibrium adsorption capacities of DCH was 28.97 mg/g with DCH removal rate of 86.92% at 0.03 g TiO2@300 addition in 100 ml 10 mg/L DCH solution. TiO2@300 could be a promising adsorbent.