Effect of calcination temperature and calcination time on the Kaolinite/TiO2 composite for photocatalytic reduction of CO2

Abstract

The kaolinite/TiO2 composite (60 wt% of TiO2) was prepared by thermal hydrolysis of a raw kaolin suspension in titanyl sulphate and calcined at different temperatures (600, 650 and 700°C) and for different times (1, 2 and 3 h). The obtained samples were characterized by XRPD, N2 physical adsorption and SEM, and tested for photocatalytic reduction of CO2. The different calcination conditions did not influence TiO2 phase composition, only slightly changed the specific surface area, and significantly affected crystallite size of kaolinite/TiO2 composite. A higher temperature and longer duration of calcination lead to higher crystallinity of the powder. The photocatalytic results showed that the crystallite size determined the efficiency of kaolinite/TiO2 photocatalysts.