Preparation and characterization of TiO2 pillared clay: effect of palladium and photosensitizer on photocatalytic activity

A series of titania pillared Algerian montmorillonite was prepared from Na-montmorillonite using titanium isopropoxide and hydrochloric acid. Next to a reference clay pillared with TiO2 only(Mont-TiO2), a clay pillared with the palladium doped TiO2 was also synthesized(Mont-(TiO2-Pd)) as well as a TiO2-pillared clay photosensitized by the introduction of the methylene blue dye into the suspension of the TiO2-pillared clay(Mont-TiO2)-BM. The prepared materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), micro X-ray fluorescence (µFX), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Differential and thermo-gravimetric analysis (DTA/TGA), Fourier transformed infrared (FT-IR), specific area and porosity determinations. The prepared materials are porous and exhibit a good thermal stability as indicated by their surface areas after calcination by microwave. Their photocatalytic performance was evaluated in the photodegradation of phenyl urea herbicide (precisely, Linuron). The TiO2 pillared clay (Mont-TiO2) is shown to be the best photocatalyst in term of photocatalytic activity.