Photocatalytic inactivation of under UV light irradiation using large surface area anatase TiO quantum dots.

In this study, high specific surface areas (SSAs) of anatase titanium dioxide (TiO) quantum dots (QDs) were successfully synthesized through a novel one-step microwave-hydrothermal method in rapid synthesis time (20 min) without further heat treatment. XRD analysis and HR-TEM images showed that the as-prepared TiO QDs of approximately 2 nm size have high crystallinity with anatase phase. Optical properties showed that the energy band gap ( ) of as-prepared TiO QDs was 3.60 eV, which is higher than the standard TiO band gap, which might be due to the quantum size effect. Raman studies showed shifting and broadening of the peaks of TiO QDs due to the reduction of the crystallite size. The obtained Brunauer-Emmett-Teller specific surface area (381 m g) of TiO QDs is greater than the surface area (181 m g) of commercial TiO nanoparticles. The photocatalytic activities of TiO QDs were conducted by the inactivation of under ultraviolet light irradiation and compared with commercially available anatase TiO nanoparticles. The photocatalytic inactivation ability of was estimated to be 91% at 60 µg ml for TiO QDs, which is superior to the commercial TiO nanoparticles. Hence, the present study provides new insight into the rapid synthesis of TiO QDs without any annealing treatment to increase the absorbance of ultraviolet light for superior photocatalytic inactivation ability of .