Enhanced Adsorption Capacity and Photo-Catalytic Oxidative Activity of Dyes in Aqueous Medium by Hydrothermally Treated Titania Pillared Clay

Titania pillared montmorillonite clay was prepared by two different routes viz. 1) conventional ion exchange method and 2) modified method wherein the post hydrothermal treatment after ion-exchange was employed. The influence of the post hydrothermal treatment on the textural properties of titania-pillared clays was studied. The calcined clay was characterized by different physico-chemical techniques such as XRD, EDX, low temperature (77 K) nitrogen adsorption and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The content of pillared titania remained unchanged irrespective of the method of preparation. The method of preparation and severity of the conditions employed for the hydrothermal treatment resulted in alteration of the crystallinity and crystallite size of the anatase. The changes in the average pore diameter was found to comensurate with the changes in crystallite size of anatase phase. The increase in total pore volume as a function of the severity of the post hydrothermal treatment resulted in the decrease in micropore volume. The severity of the post hydrothermal treatment governed the extent of the blue shift in UV-Vis DRS spectra.The behaviour of titania pillared clays in adsorptive capacity and in photo-catalytic oxidation of methylene blue and victoria pure blue in aqueous medium was studied as a function of their physico-chemical characteristics. The titania pillared clays prepared by post hydrothermal route has shown enhanced adsorption capacity and photo-catalytic oxidation.