Synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic activity of porous manganese oxide doped titania for toluene decomposition

The present study describes the photocatalytic degradation of toluene in gas phase on different porous manganese oxide doped titanium dioxide. As synthesized birnessite and cryptomelane type porous manganese oxide were doped with titania and tested for photocatalytic decomposition of toluene in gas phase. The effects of the inlet concentration of toluene, flow rate (retention time) were examined and the relative humidity was maintained constantly. Thermal and textural characterization of manganese oxide doped titania materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravemetry (TG), BET and TEM-EDAX studies. The aim of the present study is to synthesize the porous manganese oxide doped titania and to study its photocatalytic activity for toluene degradation in gas phase. Cryptomelane doped titania catalyst prepared in water medium [K-OMS-2 (W)] is shown the good toluene degradation with lower catalysts loading compared to commercial bulk titania in annular type photo reactor. The higher photocatalytic activity due to various factors such as catalyst preparation method, experimental conditions, catalyst loading, surface area, etc. In the present study manganese oxide OMS doped titania materials prepared by both aqueous and non-aqueous medium, aqueous medium prepared catalyst shows the good efficiency due to the presence of OH bonded groups on the surface of catalyst. The linear forms of different kinetic equations were applied to the adsorption data and their goodness of fit was evaluated based on the R2 and standard error. The goodness to the linear fit was observed for Elovich model with high R2 (≧0.9477) value.