Fluorinated and Bayberry Tannin Modified Titanium Dioxide and Its Photocatalytic Performance

Abstract Using titanium sulfate as titanium source, hydrofluoric acid as fluorine source, bayberry tannin (BT) as template and ammonia as precipitant, nano fluorinated titanium dioxide (BT-FTO) with porous structure was prepared by simple precipitation method. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron micro-scopy (SEM), specific surface area analyzer (BET), UV–Vis absorption spectroscopy (UV–Vis Abs), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and molecular fluorescence spectrophotometer (PL) were used to analyze the crystal phase composition, surface morphology, specific surface area, UV absorption band edge, element composition, valence state and fluorescence intensity of the samples. The photocatalytic activity of the photocatalyst for methyl orange was explored. The results indicate that: BT-FTO nanoparticles are well dispersed; fluorination promotes the formation of hydroxyl groups on the surface of titanium dioxide; the specific surface area of titanium dioxide is enhanced by bayberry tannin modification; fluorination as well as tannin modification are able to reduce the grain size of TiO2; when 0.0188% BT-FTO calcined at 550°C was irradiated by a 500 W metal halide lamp for 30 min, the degradation rate of methyl orange reached 94%, while that of simple titanium dioxide was only 37.87%.