COMPARATIVE STUDY ON STRUCTURING AND PHOTOCATALYTIC ACTIVITY OF NANOTITANIA EMBOSSED WITH ORGANIC EXTRACTS

Abstract

Several extensive research studies have explored the advantages of green templates in the synthesis of structure and morphology-controlled photocatalytic nano materials. This paper compares the potential aspect of zingiber rhizome extract (ZE) and tapioca starch extract (TS) in modifying the surface and optical properties of titania nano particles (TNP) synthesized by sol-gel technique. The synthesized nano catalysts were characterized using various physico-chemical techniques. While zingiber extract promote effectively favored the formation of dual anatase and rutile phases, tapioca extract ended with single anatase phase titania, were examined for the degradation of Congo red in the presence of sunlight. The photo mineralization and recyclability of catalysts have been evaluated through Total Organic Content analysis. The easy recovery and reusability of bio synthesized nano catalysts with good control over the grain size, enable them to be an implicit novel green templates in the successful synthesis of photoactive mesoporous nano titania.