Comparison of Photocatalytic Activities of Anatase and Rutile Titania Nanostructures Synthesized by Microwave Irradiation

TiO2 nanostructures with fascinating morphologies like hexagons and flowers were synthesized by a simple mi- crowave irradiation technique. Tuning of different morphologies was achieved by changing the pH and the nature of the medium or the precipitating agent. As-synthesized titania nanostructures were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-visible spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy (IR), BET surface area, photoluminescence (PL) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Photocatalytic dye degradation studies were conducted using Methyl Orange under ultraviolet light irradiation. Dye degradation ability for nanohexagons was found to be superior to the nanoflowers and can be attributed to the observed high surface area of nanohexagons. As-synthesized titania nanostructures have shown higher photocatalytic activity than the commercial photoca- talyst Degussa P-25 TiO2.