Preparation and Characterization of Nucleus/Shell TiO2/HAP Complex Nanophotocatalyst

A rapid and more efficient method was developed to prepare nucleus/shell titania/hydroxyapatite (TiO2/HAP)complex nanophotocatalyst. Hydroxyapatite (5μm) which had been dissolved with 0.1 mol/L HCI was formed on the surface of the nanosized anatase titania powders by increasing the pH value of the solution at 90℃ in the water bath for only several hours .The microstructure and morphology of the resulting sample were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrum (EDS) and atomic force microscope (AFM). The results indicated that nucleus/shell structural TiO2/HAP was formed in our experiments, and the thickness of the coating layer was about 5 nm. Photocatalytic decomposition of methyl orange was utilized to test the photocatalysis of the resulting samples and the result was compared with that of pure anatase titania powders (about 20 nm). It was shown that the photocatalytic activity of the sample was not decreased due to the coating of HAP.