Effect of titanium-tetraisopropoxide concentration on the photocatalytic efficiency of nanocrystalline thin films TiO2 used for the photodegradation of textile dyes Original Research Article

The photocatalytic activity of nanocrystalline TiO2 is a result of many factors, including the concentration, surface area, grain distribution and crystal phase. In this study, the effects of the concentration of titanium-tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) on the crystal structure, optical and the structural properties, such as homogeneity, surface area, crystal size, grain size and grain distribution, was studied using the following techniques: X-ray diffraction (XRD), Environment Scanning Electron Microscopy (E-SEM), Brunauer Emmette and Teller analysis (BET), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and UV–vis spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activities of the TiO2 thin films synthesized for this study were investigated by their ability to decolour an aqueous solution of two common textile dyes: Reactive Blue19 and Reactive Yellow17.