Influence of pH on the formulation of TiO2 nano-crystalline powders with high photocatalytic activity

•Simple synthesis method of the titanium dioxide photocatalyst.•The influence of the pH solutions on the formation of TiO2 phases was determined.•The physicochemical properties depending on the pH were established.•The photocatalytic performance of the synthesised TiO2 powders was assessed.•The samples present high catalytic activity under low visible and UV radiation.

This paper describes the effect of synthesis conditions on the formation of anatase and rutile crystalline phases and photocatalytic activity of synthesised TiO2 phase. The synthesised powders were characterised by X-ray diffraction, Raman microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy and UV–Vis spectroscopy. Using these characterisation techniques, the structural, morphological and optical properties as a function of formulation pH were determined. Since photocatalysis is a surface process, the mass surface charge of the powders was also measured using a Faraday Cage connected to an electrometer. The structural, morphological, optical and surface properties were correlated with the photocatalytic activity of the formulated TiO2 powders.The influence of synthesis condition on the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 powders was determined by the degradation of Methylene Blue dye under both UV-A and visible light.

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