Preparation of nano-TiO2/diatomite-based porous ceramics and their photocatalytic kinetics for formaldehyde degradation

Diatomite-based porous ceramics were adopted as carriers to immobilize nano-TiO2 via a hydrolysis-deposition technique. The thermal degradation of as-prepared composites was investigated using thermogravimetric-differential thermal analysis, and the phase and microstructure were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The results indicated that the carriers were encapsulated by nano-TiO2 with a thickness of 300-450 nm. The main crystalline phase of TiO2 calcined at 650°C was anatase, and the average grain size was 8.3 nm. The FT-IR absorption bands at 955.38 cm-1 suggested that new chemical bonds among Ti, O, and Si had formed in the composites. The photocatalytic (PC) activity of the composites was investigated un-der UV irradiation. Furthermore, the photodegradation kinetics of formaldehyde was investigated using the composites as the cores of an air cleaner. A kinetics study showed that the reaction rate constants of the gas-phase PC reaction of formaldehyde wereκ= 0.576 mg·m-3·min-1 andK = 0.048 m3/mg.