Date of Award

5-2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Materials Science and Engineering (MSMSE)

Department

Materials Science

First Advisor

Professor Mohsen Sherif

Second Advisor

Professor Nagi T. Wakim

Abstract

The goal of this work was to improve the performance of TiO2 nanomaterials by increasing their optical activities by shifting the onset of the response from the UV to the visible-light region. Among the several ways to achieve this goal, doping TiO2 nanomaterials with other elements (e.g. metals) was selected to narrow the band gap and enhance the optical properties of TiO2 nanomaterials. In this work, we have prepared Cu-doped TiO2 nano-catalysts, characterized them and studied their properties, and the optical ones in particular. The Ag-doped TiO2 catalyst was prepared by the sol-gel method while the Cu-doped TiO2 catalyst was prepared by using two different techniques for comparison purposes: the sol-gel method and the inert gas condensation technique under ultra-high vacuum.

The Ag-doped TiO2 nano-catalysts prepared by the sol-gel method were characterized by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and Electron Probe Micro-Analyzer (EPMA) for surface morphology and chemical composition, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis for surface area and porosity measurements, x-ray diffraction (XRD) to determine their crystal structure and UV-visible absorption spectrometry (UV-Vis) to measure the optical properties. The same characterization methods have been applied on the Cu-doped TiO2 photocatalysts prepared by the sol-gel method, in addition to some rheological measurements to determine their flow behavior.

Furthermore, x-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and UV-visible absorption spectrometry (UV-Vis) analyses have been conducted to characterize the Cu-doped TiO2 catalyst prepared by inert gases condensation technique.

The experimental work conducted here revealed promising results for improving the performance of the TiO2 nanomaterial by doping it with Cu and Ag metals where the optical was enhanced and shifted to the visible region causing an appreciable increase in its effectiveness for photocatalytic application.

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