Rate of Photocatalytic Degradation of Mordant Blue 13 Azo Dye on Commercial Titanium Dioxide Semiconductor Photocatalyst Immobilized on Glass Particulate Thin Films Calcined at 300°C in a Four-hole Batch Mode Photoreactor

The current study investigated the photocatalytic degradation of Mordant Blue 13 dye by TiO2 semi-conductor photocatalyst under UV light irradiation. Microscopic glass particulate thin films of TiO2 were prepared from five commercial powder catalysts i.e. P25 (Degussa), AV01 (Precheza), S7001 (Eurosupport), PC100 and PC500 (Millenium) by deposition from a prepared aqueous TiO2 suspension of concentration 10 g.L-1. Mordant blue 13 azo dye was used as a model compound to determine the rate of photocatalytic degradation under UV light irradiation. The rate of degradation (mol-1.h-1.W-1) was measured using a four-hole batch mode photocatalytic reactor fitted with Sylvania LynxS, 11W UV lamps emitting light of wavelength between λ=320-400 nm with maximum wavelength at λ=355 nm. The experimental procedure involved irradiation of 25 mL c(1×10-4 mol. L-1) mordant blue 13 dye solutions in four cuvettes irradiated by UV light. The cuvettes were individually placed facing the four holes in the photoreactor, and UV light passed through to irradiate the dye solutions. Samples of dye solution were drawn out every 30 minutes, and absorbance measured using a UV-Vis spectrophotometer to determine changes in dye concentration during irradiation was determined using UV-Vis spectrophotometry. The rate of dye degradation ( ) shows that the dye is effectively degraded on TiO2 photocatalysts with UV light irradiation at wavelengths 320nm-400nm as follows:-[(AV01= 1.88×10-5 mol-1.h-1.W-1; PC 100=1.79×10-5 mol-1.h-1.W-1; P25= 1.53×10-5 mol-1.h-1.W-1; S7001= 1.22×10-5 mol-1.h-1.W-1; PC 500=1.21×10-5 mol-1.h-1.W-1)]. Particulate layer prepared from PC 500 and S7001 catalyst exhibited similar and least photocatalytic activity of all the commercial powder catalysts. AV01 exhibited the highest photocatalytic degradation rate from all commercial catalysts by 35.6%.