Effect of silver and palladium on dye-removal characteristics of anatase-titania nanotubes.

Anatase-titania nanotubes have been synthesized via hydrothermal and surface-modified by depositing silver and palladium via ultraviolet-reduction method. The pure and surface-modified anatase-titania nanotubes have been characterized using the transmission electron microscope, selected-area electron diffraction, X-ray diffraction, diffuse reflectance, photoluminescence, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscope to reveal their average size, structure, and surface-chemistry. The nanotubes have been utilized for the dye-removal application involving the surface-adsorption mechanism under the dark-condition and photocatalytic degradation mechanism under the ultraviolet-radiation exposure. The variation in the dye-concentration during the dye-adsorption and photocatalysis processes has been determined using the ultraviolet-visible absorption spectrophotometer with methylene blue as a model catalytic dye-agent. It has been shown that silver-deposited anatase-titania nanotubes are more effective in enhancing the kinetics of the dye-removal via surface-adsorption and photocatalytic degradation mechanisms relative to the palladium-deposited anatase-titania nanotubes, which has been attributed to the differences in the surface-chemistry of anatase-titania nanotubes induced by the respective metal-deposition.