Nanocrystalline particles that show large specific surface areas have been widely used in the area of catalysis and photocatalysis. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles have been used for the photocatalytic oxidation of organic chemicals. Photocatalytic membranes that can be used to remove organic contaminants in water treatment have been developed by SINTEF via a project NOMRemove. The photocatalysis performance of TiO2 can be improved by doping, coupling, capping different cations or ions to modify the band structure.

There are many different techniques to synthesize the Nanoparticles. Chemical synthesis technique such as sol-gel, coprepcipitate and hydrothermal method have been used to fabricate nanoparticles. Agglomerates among the nanoparticles that will sacrifice the surface area and therefore degrade the photocatlysis properties, can be avoided by low-temperature synthesis or by introducing surfactants during synthesis. 

Related project :

NOM-Remove

Contact person: Izumi Kumakiri, Juan Yang