The influence of rapid heat treatment in still air on the photocatalytic activity of titania photocatalysts for phenol and monuron degradation

▶ Rapid heat treatment results in high activity photocatalysts. ▶ Hydrophilic samples perform better than the aggregating ones. ▶ Ten minutes of calcination provides efficient phenol and monuron degradation. ▶ Reaction rate is higher by a factor of 2 compared to traditionally treated samples. ▶ Best specific reaction rates are significantly higher than that of Aeroxide P25.