Hydrothermally Synthesized TiO2 Nanowires and Potential Application in Catalytic Degradation of p-Nitrophenol

Abstract

Pollutants from industrial effluents create a wide problem concerning harm to humans, the environment, and climate. This work focuses on developing TiO₂ nanowires (NWs) for photocatalytic activity and water treatment applications. The three different temperatures calcined TiO₂ nanowires were synthesized via hydrothermal method followed by subsequent calcination at various temperatures. The TiO₂ nanowires were analyzed using techniques such as UV spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), TEM, and BET to investigate their structural, morphological, and surface properties. The FE-SEM and TEM micrographs of TiO₂ nanomaterial show well-defined wire morphology with an average size of 150–200 nm. All the synthesized nanowires show a significant band gap in the range of 3.42–3.56 eV associated with the UV region. The calculated BET surface area of the formed TiO₂ nanowires for T₀, T₁, T₂, and T₃ is 4.84, 124.5, 19.28, and 23.51 m²/g respectively. The results demonstrate its potential as an efficient and sustainable photocatalysis and dye degradation solution. The efficiency of the nanowires was analyzed through photocatalytic degradation experiments using model organic pollutants from nitrophenol under UV light irradiation. The outcomes show that the low-temperature calcined TiO₂ (T₁) nanowires efficiently degraded PNP (para-nitrophenol) pollutants up to 76% in low pollutant concentration at 40⁰C in a UV visible cabinet and the percentage recovery of Catalyst is around 98%. due to their high surface area 124.5m²/g). The nanowires exhibit excellent photocatalytic activity, enabling effective degradation and mineralization of pollutants. Its ability to efficiently remove contaminants under UV or visible light irradiation makes it a sustainable and effective solution for treating wastewater from diverse industrial effluents.