Synthesis and Characterization Of Tio2 Si and Tin Nanopowders

Abstract

Nanopowders are used extensively as a photocatalytic substance, which degrade the newlinetoxic organic compounds and annihilate pollutants from contaminated water. Hence newlinelarge amount of nanopowders are required for purification of contaminated water. newlineMicrowave plasma synthesis method is one of the promising methods to produce newlinelarge quantity of homogeneous nanopowder but the method should be optimized for newlinethe synthesis of required type and size of nanopowders. Three type of nanopowders newlinesuch as metal oxide (TiO2), metal nitride (TiN) and semiconductor (Si) were selected newlinefor optimization of the developed microwave system. newlineBefore synthesis of nanopowders, the system capability was examined by varying newlinemicrowave parameters such as, power, gas flow rate and pressure for attaining the newlinestable plasma. After series of experiments the optimized microwave parameters were newlinefound to be 2.9 kW of power, 10 l/min of gas flow rate and 2 kg/cm2 newlineof pressure. newlineThen from exhaustive literature survey, liquid TiCl4 was selected as a starting newlinematerial for synthesis of TiO2 and TiN nanopowders and liquid SiCl4 was selected for newlinesynthesis of Si nanopowder under argon (TiO2) and nitrogen (TiN and Si) newlineenvironment. newlineSynthesized TiO2, Si and TiN nanopowders were characterized to determine the newlinestructural properties such as crystallinity, particle size, morphology, band gap, BET newlineand chemical elemental analysis as per standard characterization equipments like newlineXRD, TEM, SEM, UV-Vis spectroscopy, BET and XPS respectively. Along with the newlineabove said properties, for TiO2 nanopowder, the effect of process parameters on the newlineaverage particle size, surface area and percentage of anatase was studied. newlineGenerally, TiO2 nanopowder is used as a photocatalytic material and hence the newlinesynthesized TiO2 compound was tested for degradation kinetics of anionic dyes newlineOrange G (OG), indigo carmine (IC), alizarin cyanine green (ACG)) and cationic dye newlinemalachite green (MG) and compared with commercially available Degussa P-25 newlinecatalyst. Si nanopowders are extens