Development of a visible light active, photo-catalytic and antimicrobial nanocomposite of titanium dioxide and silicon dioxide for water treatment

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dc.contributor.advisorTichagwa, Len
dc.contributor.authorMungondori, Henry Heroeen
dc.date.accessioned2026-08-12T23:53:32Z
dc.date.available2026-08-12T23:53:32Z
dc.date.issued2012en
dc.description.abstractThe aim of this study was to prepare composite materials based on titanium dioxide (TiO2) and silicon dioxide (SiO2), and to evaluate their photo-catalytic and antimicrobial properties. Carbon and nitrogen doped TiO2nano-particles were prepared via a sol gel synthesis, which is a simple hydrolysis and condensation technique. In situ doping was carried out using glucose and urea as carbon and nitrogen sources respectively. Doping increased the spectral response of titanium dioxide photo-catalyst, allowing it to utilise the visible region which is much wider than the UV region (about 40 % of the solar spectrum), thus making it a more efficient photo-catalyst. The carbon and nitrogen doped TiO2-SiO2nano-particles were immobilized on glass support material to allow for easy separation of the spent photo-catalyst after the photo-degradation process. Tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) was employed as both a binder and precursor for silicon dioxide. A mixture of TiO2 and TEOS in a 1:1 ratio was allowed to polymerize on a glass support which had been treated with hydrofluoric acid to introduce OH groups. The prepared photo-catalytic material was characterized by FT-IR, XRD, DRS, TEM, EDX, and BET analyses. Carbon was found to be more effective as a dopant than nitrogen. It brought about a band gap reduction of 0.30 eV and a BET surface area of 95.4 m2g-1 on the photo-catalyst as compared to a gap reduction of 0.2 eV and surface area of 52.2 m2g-1 for nitrogen doped TiO2. On the other hand, introduction of SiO2 allowed utilization of visible light by the TiO2-SiO2 nano-composite leading to an improved rate of photo-degradation of both methyl orange and phenol red. However, the immobilization of TiO2 on support material made it less effective towards inactivation of E. coli ATCC 25922 bacterial cells when compared to powdered TiO2 which was able to inactivate about 98 % of the bacterial cells within an hour of treatment.en
dc.format95 leaves; 30 cmen
dc.formatpdfen
dc.identifier.citationMungondori, Henry Heroe. 2012en
dc.identifier.othervital:11335en
dc.identifier.otherhttp://hdl.handle.net/10353/471en
dc.identifier.otherTitanium dioxideen
dc.identifier.otherSilicaen
dc.identifier.otherCatalysisen
dc.identifier.otherNanocomposites (Materials)en
dc.identifier.otherWater -- Purificationen
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11837/4576
dc.language.isoEnglishen
dc.publisherUniversity of Fort Hareen
dc.publisherFaculty of Science & Agricultureen
dc.rightsUniversity of Fort Hareen
dc.subjectTitanium dioxideen
dc.subjectSilicaen
dc.subjectCatalysisen
dc.subjectNanocomposites (Materials)en
dc.subjectWater -- Purificationen
dc.titleDevelopment of a visible light active, photo-catalytic and antimicrobial nanocomposite of titanium dioxide and silicon dioxide for water treatmenten
dc.title.alternativeDevelopment of a visible light active, photo-catalytic and antimicrobial nanocomposite of titanium dioxide and silicon dioxide for water treatmenten
dc.typeThesisen
dc.typeMastersen
dc.typeMSc (Chemistry)en

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