Microstructure and surface/interface characterization of TiO2-pillared mica for photocatalytic acetaldehyde degradation

We studied the composite of TiO 2 and mica with the photocatalytic acetaldehyde degradation properties and its physical characterization. The TiO 2 -pillared fluorine mica was prepared by synthetic fluorine mica powder and acidic solution of hydrolyzed Ti-precursor, and characterized by XRD, N 2 adsorption studies, SEM, TEM and XPS. The materials exhibited pillared fragments of TiO 2 and a microporous structure following heat treatment at 500–800 °C, as demonstrated by the XRD and adsorption studies. The superior photocatalytic properties were demonstrated to show the complete degradation of 10 ppm acetaldehyde in 3 dm 3 air within 60 min using 0.2 g catalyst. The kinetics rate obeyed to the first order of the acetaldehyde concentration, and was improved as the diameter of TiO 2 nanoparticles (NPs) in the catalyst decreased. The TEM and XPS results suggested the TiO 2 NPs with the size of 4–8 nm were well combined with the silicate interlayers, which gave the sufficient performance of the present TiO 2 -pillared mica catalyst.