Preparation and characterization of Zr doped TiO2 nanotube arrays on the titanium sheet and their enhanced photocatalytic activity

This paper described a new method for the preparation of Zr doped TiO₂ nanotube arrays by electrochemical method. TiO₂ nanotube arrays were prepared by anodization with titanium anode and platinum cathode. Afterwards, the formed TiO₂ nanotube arrays and Pt were used as cathode and anode, respectively, for preparation of Zr/TiO₂ nanotube arrays in the electrolyte of 0.1 M Zr(NO₃)₄ with different voltage and post-calcination process. The nanotube arrays were characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) and UV-Vis diffusion reflection spectra (DRS). The photocatalytic activities of these nanotubes were investigated with Rhodamine B as the model pollutant and the results demonstrated that the photocatalytic efficiency of Zr doped TiO₂ nanotubes was much better than that of TiO₂ nanotubes under UV irradiation. Zr/TiO₂ nanotube arrays doped at 7 V and calcined at 600 °C (denoted as TiO₂-7 V-600) achieved the best photocatalytic efficiency and the most optimal doping ratio was 0.047 (Zr/Ti). TiO₂-7 V-600 could be reused for more than 20 times and maintained good photocatalytic activities.     

Micro-solid phase equilibrium extraction with highly ordered TiO2 nanotube arrays: a new approach for the enrichment and measurement of organochlorine pesticides at trace level in environmental water samples

Ordered TiO₂ nanotube arrays have been widely used in many fields such as photocatalysis, self-cleaning, solar cells, gas sensing, and catalysis. This present study exploited a new functional application of the ordered TiO₂ nanotube arrays. A micro-solid phase equilibrium extraction using ordered TiO₂ nanotube arrays was developed for the enrichment and measurement of organochlorine pesticides prior to gas chromatography-electron capture detection. Ordered TiO₂ nanotube arrays exhibited excellent merits on the pre-concentration of organochlorine pesticides and lower detection limits of 0.10, 0.10, 0.10, 0.098, 0.0076, 0.0097, 0.016, and 0.023 μg L⁻¹ for α-HCH, β-HCH, γ-HCH, δ-HCH, p,p’-DDE, p,p’-DDD, o,p’-DDT, and p,p’-DDT, respectively, were achieved. Four real water samples were used for validation, and the spiked recoveries were in the range of 78–102.8%. These results demonstrated that the developed micro-solid phase equilibrium extraction using ordered TiO₂ nanotube arrays would be very constructive and have a great beginning with a brand new prospect in the analysis of environmental pollutants.     

Preconcentration of nickel and cadmium by TiO2 nanotubes as solid-phase extraction adsorbents coupled with flame atomic absorption spectrometry

TiO₂ nanotubes, a new nanomaterial, are often used in the photocatalysis. Due to its relatively large specific surface areas it should have a higher enrichment capacity. However, very few applications in the enrichment of pollutants were found. This paper described a new procedure to investigate the trapping power of TiO₂ nanotubes with cadmium and nickel in water samples as the model analytes and flame atomic absorption spectrometry for the analysis. The possible parameters influencing the enrichment were optimized. Under the optimal SPE conditions, the method detection limits and precisions (R.S.D., n = 6) were 0.25 ng mL⁻¹ and 2.2% for cadmium, 1 ng mL⁻¹ and 2.6% for nickel, respectively. The established method has been successfully applied to analyze four realworld water samples, and satisfactory results were obtained. The spiked recoveries were in the range of 90.2-99.2% for them. All these indicated that TiO₂ nanotubes had great potential in environmental field.     

阴离子改性甘油溶液中TiO2纳米管阵列的制备和表征

本文采用电化学阳极氧化法以含氟的甘油和水混合溶液为电解液在纯钛表面制备了一层排列规整的TiO2纳米管阵列,研究了电解液中额外添加3种2价阴离子、不同的电解时间及不同的添加物浓度等因素对所获得的TiO2纳米管阵列形貌的影响。结果表明,在改性电解液中制备的TiO2纳米管阵列的长度均超过了未改性的电解液中制备的,并随着氧化时间的增长,纳米管管口直径增大,管壁变薄;同时添加的(NH4)2TiF6浓度在0.025~0.1 mol.L-1范围内均可获得管长更长且形貌较好的TiO2纳米管阵列。     

Determination of carbamate pesticides using micro-solid-phase extraction combined with high-performance liquid chromatography

We describe a simple and sensitive porous polypropylene membrane-protected micro-solid-phase extraction (μ-SPE) approach for the sample preparation and determination of carbamate pesticides in soil samples by high-performance liquid chromatography. The μ-SPE device consisted of C₁₈ sorbent held within a porous polypropylene envelope. In order to achieve optimum performance, several extraction parameters were optimized. Under the most favorable conditions, the extraction efficiency of the μ-SPE was very high, with detection limits in the range of 0.01–0.40 ng g⁻¹. This is more than two orders of magnitude lower than the limits obtained by the United States Environmental Protection Agency Methods 8321A and 8318. A linear relationship was obtained for each analyte in the range of 2 and 200 ng g⁻¹. The relative standard deviation for the analysis of aged soil samples spiked at 5 ng g⁻¹ was ≤11%. The reproducibility of separate μ-SPE device used for experiments was satisfactory (relative standard deviations ranged from 4 to 11%), indicating that the method is reliable for routine environmental analysis.     

High-throughput micro-solid phase extraction on 96-well plate using dodecyl methacrylate-ethylen glycol dimethacrylate monolithic copolymer

A novel high-throughput device based on 96-micro-solid phase extraction (96-μ-SPE) system was constructed for multiresidue determination of nine pesticides in aquatic samples. The extraction procedure was performed on a commercially available 96-well plate system. The extraction module consisted of 96 pieces of 1 cm × 3 cm of cylindrically shaped stainless steel meshes. The prepared meshes were fixed in a home-made polytetrafluoroethylene-based constructed ninety-six holes block for possible simultaneous immersion of meshes into the center of individual wells. Dodecyl methacrylate and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate was copolymerized as a monolithic polymer and placed in the cylindrically shaped stainless steel meshes as extracting medium. A volume of 1 mL of the aquatic sample was transferred into the 96-well plate and the 96-μ-SPE device was applied for the extraction of the selected pesticides. Subsequently, the extracted analytes were analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Influential parameters such as polymer synthesis conditions, sorbent-to-sorbent reproducibility, ionic strength and extraction time were optimized. Intra and inter-sorbent reproducibility on 96-μ-SPE device were evaluated and results revealed that extraction yields are rather similar. Limits of detection were below 4 μg L⁻¹ and the coefficient of determination was satisfactory (r² > 0.99) for all the studied analytes. The developed method was successfully applied to the extraction and determination of the selected pesticides in surface water samples.     

Preconcentration sensitive determination of pyrethroid insecticides in environmental water samples with solid phase extraction with SiO2 microspheres cartridge prior to high performance liquid chromatography

Present study developed a new method for the sensitive determination of pyrethroid insecticides with solid phase extraction in combination with high performance liquid chromatography and UV detector. SiO₂ microspheres, a new SiO₂ based material, was investigated for the enrichment ability and applicability as the solid phase extraction sorbent. Four pyrethroid pesticides such as fenpropathrin, cyhalothrin, fenvalevate and biphenthrin were used as the target analytes. Parameters that maybe influence the extraction efficiency such as the eluent type and its volume, sample flow rate, sample pH, and the sample volume were optimized in detail, and the optimal conditions were as followed: sample volume, 100 mL; concentration of methanol, 30%; acetone volume, 5 mL; sample flow rate, 4.2 mL min⁻¹; sample pH, 7. The experimental results indicated that there was good linearity in the concentration range of 0.1–50 μg L⁻¹ except biphenthrin in the range of 0.05–25 μg L⁻¹. The detection limits for fenpropathrin, cyhalothrin, fenvalevate and biphenthrin were in the range of 0.02–0.08 μg L⁻¹. The intra-day and day to day precisions (RSDs, n = 6) were in the ranges of 2.6–4.4% and 5.3–7.2%, respectively. The method was validated with five real environmental water samples, and all these results proved that proposed method could be used as a good alternative for the routine analysis for such pollutants in environmental samples.     

Recent advances of adsorbents in solid phase extraction for environmental samples

In recent years, some new and sensitive analytical instruments have been invented or existing instruments have been improved, which have resulted in many advanced achievements. However, sample pre-treatment techniques still play important and irreplaceable roles in the analysis of pollutants. Among the developed sample pre-treatment techniques, solid phase extraction is the most often used method and has been widely applied worldwide. In solid phase extraction, adsorbent is the key part to achieve high sensitivity and enrichment efficiency, which is the hot topic in analytical and environmental fields in recent years. In order to deeply understand the prospect of solid phase extraction, this review summarises the recent advances of adsorbents including ion imprinting materials, magnetic materials, core-shell materials, mesoporous materials, carbon nanotubes, TiO₂ nanotube arrays and some other new materials.     

Fabrication of boron‐rich multiple monolithic fibers for the solid‐phase microextraction of carbamate pesticide residues in complex samples

To enrich carbamate pesticides from complex matrices, an adsorbent based on poly (vinylboronic anhydride pyridine complex‐co‐ethylenedimethacrylate) monolith was fabricated and utilized as the extraction phase of multiple monolithic fiber solid‐phase microextraction. Due to the abundant boron atoms in the monolith, the B–N coordination interaction between adsorbent and analytes play a key role in the efficient extraction of analytes. Under the optimized conditions, the monolithic fibers were combined with high‐performance liquid chromatography for the quantify trace levels of carbamate pesticides in environmental water and orange juice samples. For water sample, the limit of detection and limit of quantification were in the range of 0.017–0.29 and 0.057–0.96 μg/L, respectively. The related values in orange juice samples were 0.038–0.39 and 0.12–1.36 μg/kg, respectively. Besides, the proposed method also exhibits wide linearity, satisfactory coefficients of determination, and good precision. The introduced approach was successfully applied to determine trace target analytes in real‐life samples. The spiked recoveries with different fortified concentrations were in the range of 80.4–117% for water samples and 83.7–119% for fruit juice samples. The relative standard deviations were below 10%. The results evidence that the suggested method was convenient, reliable, and eco‐friendly for the monitoring of trace levels of carbamate pesticides in complex samples such as waters and juices.     

A novel amperometric biosensor for the detection of nitrophenol

We report on a novel amperometric biosensor for detecting phenolic compounds based on the co-immobilization of horseradish-peroxidase (HRP) and methylene blue (MB) with chitosan on Au-modified TiO₂ nanotube arrays. The titania nanotube arrays were directly grown on a Ti substrate using anodic oxidation first; a gold thin film was then coated onto the TiO₂ nanotubes by an argon plasma technique. The morphology and composition of the fabricated Au-modified TiO₂ nanotube arrays were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Cyclic voltammetry and amperometry were used to study the proposed electrochemical biosensor. The effect of pH, applied electrode potential and the concentration of H₂O₂ on the sensitivity of the biosensor have been systemically investigated. The performance of the proposed biosensor was tested using seven different phenolic compounds, showing very high sensitivity; in particular, the linearity of the biosensor for the detection of 3-nitrophenol was observed from 3 × 10⁻⁷ to 1.2 × 10⁻⁴ M with a detection limit of 9 × 10⁻⁸ M (based on the S/N = 3).     

Design of highly ordered Ag-SrTiO3 nanotube arrays for photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange

Ag-SrTiO₃ nanotube arrays were successfully prepared for the degradation of methyl orange (MO) under ultraviolet irradiation. In order to form highly ordered SrTiO₃ nanotube arrays, the preparation of TiO₂ nanotube arrays by anodic oxidation of titanium foil in different electrolytes was investigated. The selected organic solvents in electrolytes include glycerol, dimethyl sulfoxide and glycol. The results indicate that the morphology of TiO₂ nanotube arrays prepared in glycol containing ammonium fluoride electrolyte is more regular. Then SrTiO₃ nanotube arrays were synthesized by a hydrothermal method using TiO₂ nanotube arrays as the precursor. In order to further improve the photocatalytic activity of SrTiO₃ nanotube arrays, Ag nanoparticles were loaded on SrTiO₃ nanotube arrays by two sets of experiments. The loaded Ag results in an enhancement of photocatalytic activity of SrTiO₃ nanotube arrays. Moreover, the effect of pH on the photocatalytic degradation of MO was also studied.     

TiO2纳米管阵列覆盖Si薄膜光催化还原CO2性能的研究

本工作采用CVD法在阳极氧化TiO2纳米管阵列膜表面沉积一层非晶Si膜,通过退火后得到晶化了的Si膜/TiO2纳米管阵列的复合结构,并初步就其光催化还原CO2制备碳氢化合物的活性进行研究。拉曼光谱(Raman)、X射线衍射(XRD)、场发射扫描电镜(FE-SEM)、高分辨透射电子显微镜(TEM)等微结构表征结果表明所制备的TiO2纳米管阵列的厚度为270 nm左右,管直径约为70 nm,管壁厚度约为16 nm。覆盖的Si膜已晶化,其厚度约为300 nm。通过高效液相色谱(HPLC)及总有机碳(TOC)来检测光催化还原液相产物中的甲酸及总有机碳含量,发现负载Si膜后的TiO2纳米管阵列光催化性能有所提高,在装有400cut滤光片氙灯照射2 h下TOC含量从21.2 mg.L-1增长到29.5 mg.L-1,表明Si与TiO2的复合可有效的提高光催化还原CO2的活性,这可能与该异质结结构可增加对光的吸收并且可降低光生空穴-电子对复合有关。光催化循环实验表明所制得的催化剂在循环5次后仍可保持91.6%的催化活性。     

Development of mesoporous TiO2 microspheres with high specific surface area for selective enrichment of phosphopeptides by mass spectrometric analysis

In this study, mesoporous TiO₂ microspheres were synthesized by simple hydrothermal reaction, and successfully developed for phosphopeptides enrichment from both standard protein digestion and real biological sample such as rat brain tissue extract. The mesoporous TiO₂ microspheres (the diameter size of about 1.0 μm) obtained by simple hydrothermal method were found to have a specific surface area of 84.98 m²/g, which is much larger than smooth TiO₂ microspheres with same size. The surface area of mesoporous TiO₂ microspheres is almost two times of commercial TiO₂ nanoparticle (a diameter of 90 nm). Using standard proteins digestion and real biological samples, the superior selectivity and capacity of mesoporous TiO₂ microspheres for the enrichment of phosphorylated peptides than that of commercial TiO₂ nanoparticles and TiO₂ microspheres was also observed. It has been demonstrated that mesoporous TiO₂ microspheres have powerful potential for selective enrichment of phosphorylated peptides. Moreover, the preparation of the mesoporous TiO₂ microspheres obtained by the hydrothermal reaction is easy, simple and low-cost. These mesoporous TiO₂ microspheres with the ability of large scale synthesis can widely be applied for phosphorylated proteomic research.     

Determination of trace organophosphorus pesticides in water samples with TiO2 nanotubes cartridge prior to GC‐flame photometric detection

This article described a new method for the sensitive determination of organophosphorus pesticides in water samples using SPE in combination with GC‐flame photometric detection. In the procedure of method development, TiO₂ nanotubes were used as SPE adsorbents for the enrichment of organophosphorus pesticides from water samples. Several factors, such as eluent and its volume, sample pH, sample volume, sample flow rate, and concentration of humic acid, were optimized. Under the optimal conditions, the proposed method had good linear ranges as 0.1–40 μg/L for each of them, LOD of 0.11, 0.014, and 0.0025 μg/L, and LOQs of 0.37, 0.047, and 0.0083 μg/L for chlorpyrifos, phorate, and methyl parathion, respectively. The proposed method was validated with real environmental water samples and the spiked recoveries were over the range of 86.5–115.1%. All these results indicated that TiO₂ nanotubes, as a new SPE adsorbent, would be used widespread for the preconcentraiton and determination of environmental pollutants in the future.     

Fe2O3/TiO2纳米管阵列的制备及其光催化性能

在钛基体上采用阳极氧化法制备了TiO₂纳米管阵列,采用化学浴方法在TiO₂纳米管阵列上修饰了Fe₂O₃纳米颗粒.利用扫描电镜、X射线衍射和紫外可见漫反射光谱等手段对材料进行了表征,同时测试了材料的光电化学性能及其光催化降解亚甲基蓝染料废水的性能.结果表明,Fe₂O₃纳米颗粒的修饰将TiO₂纳米管阵列的光响应拓宽至可见光区域,提高了光电流,Fe₂O₃/TiO₂纳米管阵列的光电流是未修饰的TiO₂纳米管阵列的9倍.而在光催化反应中,亚甲基蓝最高降解率可达80%,比未修饰的TiO₂纳米管阵列高出30%.     

Fe_2O_3/TiO_2纳米管阵列的制备及其光催化性能

在钛基体上采用阳极氧化法制备了TiO2纳米管阵列,采用化学浴方法在TiO2纳米管阵列上修饰了Fe2O3纳米颗粒。利用扫描电镜、X射线衍射和紫外可见漫反射光谱等手段对材料进行了表征,同时测试了材料的光电化学性能及其光催化降解亚甲基蓝染料废水的性能。结果表明,Fe2O3纳米颗粒的修饰将TiO2纳米管阵列的光响应拓宽至可见光区域,提高了光电流,Fe2O3/TiO2纳米管阵列的光电流是未修饰的TiO2纳米管阵列的9倍。而在光催化反应中,亚甲基蓝最高降解率可达80%,比未修饰的TiO2纳米管阵列高出30%。     

Mesoporous TiO2 nanoparticles for highly sensitive solid-phase microextraction of organochlorine pesticides

Mesoporous TiO₂ nanoparticles were synthesized with the hydrothermal method and characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). Then a superior solid-phase microextraction (SPME) fiber was fabricated by sequentially coating the stainless steel fiber with silicone sealant film and mesoporous TiO₂ powder. The developed fiber possessed a homogeneous surface and a long life-span up to 100 times at direct immersing (DI) extraction mode. Under the optimized conditions, the extraction efficiencies of the self-made 17 μm TiO₂ fiber for six organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) were higher than those of the two commercial fibers (65 μm PDMS/DVB and 85 μm PA fibers) which were much thicker than the former. As for analytical performance, low detection limits (0.08–0.60 ng L⁻¹) and wide linearity (5–5000 ng L⁻¹) were achieved under the optimal conditions. The repeatabilities (n = 5) for single fiber were between 2.8 and 12.3%, while the reproducibilities (n = 3) of fiber-to-fiber were in the range of 3.7–15.7%. The proposed fiber was successfully applied to the sensitive analysis of OCPs in real water samples and four of the six analytes were detected from the rainwater and the lake water samples.     

Preparation of a magnetic porous carbon with hierarchical structures from waste biomass for the extraction of some carbamates

In this study, corn stalk was used to synthesize a magnetic adsorbent by pyrolysis together with KHCO₃ as the chemical activator and iron(III) salt as the magnetic reagent. The characterization by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and N₂ adsorption–desorption analysis showed that the magnetic carbon adsorbent had a structure of hierarchical pores with a high specific surface area. To evaluate its adsorption performance, the adsorbent was used for the extraction of carbamates pesticides (propoxur, isoprocarb and fenobucarb) from water and zucchini samples before high‐performance liquid chromatography analysis. The result showed that the adsorbent had a good adsorption capability for the analytes. Under the optimized conditions, a good linearity for the analytes existed in the range of 0.1–100.0 ng/mL for water samples and 0.5–100.0 ng/g for zucchini samples with the correlation coefficients of 0.9992–0.9998. The limits of detection for the analytes at a signal to noise ratio of 3 were 0.03 ng/mL for water samples and 0.20–0.50 ng/g for zucchini samples.     

The Synthesis and Photocatalytic Properties of TiO2 Nanotube Array by Starch‐Modified Anodic Oxidation

In this study, the characterization and photocatalytic activity of TiO₂ nanotube arrays prepared by anodization process with starch addition were investigated in detail. The results suggested that the optimum mass fraction of starch added in anodization process was 0.1%, with which TiO₂ nanotube arrays owning good tubular structure were synthesized. The tube length and average inner diameter of nanotubes were approximately 4 μm and 30 nm, respectively. Through the characterization of TiO₂ nanotube arrays by energy dispersive spectrometer, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X‐ray diffraction, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, it was found that the as‐prepared nanotubes possessed well uniformed and higher photodegradation responsive than the pure TiO₂. Moreover, it was expected that the as‐prepared nanotubes exhibited good photocatalytic activity for the degradation of RhB under UV‐light irradiation, which could be ascribed to their good morphology, enhanced UV‐light absorption property and electron transmission ability during the photocatalytic reaction. In addition, the nanotubes were not significantly regenerated during the cycling runs experiment. Overall, this study could provide a principle method to synthesize TiO₂ nanotube arrays with enhanced photocatalytic activity by anodization process with starch addition for environmental purification.     

Ag掺杂TiO2纳米管阵列的制备及光电催化降解氨氮废水

采用光化学沉积法、光还原法以及光电沉积法3种不同的掺杂方法 ,通过控制掺杂时间来控制Ag的担载量制备出Ag-TiO2纳米管阵列。采用场发射扫描电镜(FE-SEM)、X-射线衍射(XRD)、X-射线光电子能谱(XPS)、X-射线荧光光谱(PL)对样品进行表征。用氨氮废水的光电催化降解反应评价其催化活性,研究不同的掺杂方法以及不同的Ag担载量对TiO2纳米管阵列光催化性能的影响。结果表明:适量的Ag的引入有利于光催化效率的提高,即Ag的掺杂量存在一个最佳值,光电沉积60 s制备的样品具有最佳的光电催化效率。