Characterization of physicochemical properties of Pd/TiO2 nanostructured catalysts prepared by the photodeposition method

In this work, the sol–gel and hydrothermal methods were used to synthesize TiO2-nanostructured supports. The palladium supported on sol–gel TiO2 and on hydrothermal-method-TiO2 nanotubes was obtained by incorporating it through photodeposition. The characterization was performed by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, N2 physisorption, pulse chemisorption, ultraviolet–visible absorption spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Both sol–gel-palladium–TiO2 and palladium-nanotube samples showed different palladium dispersion and physicochemical properties. In the palladium-nanotube sample, high surface area (243 m2/g), H2Ti3O7 stable phase, and low band gap energy (2.35 eV) were obtained. Palladium-nanotubes and palladium-TiO2, used as reference samples, were prepared by wet impregnation.