Low-temperature synthesis of water-dispersible anatase titanium dioxide nanoparticles for photocatalysis

Water-dispersible anatase TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized at a low temperature (80°C) without using surfactants via the mechanism of electrostatic stabilization. The water-dispersible TiO2 nanoparticles solution was stable and no precipitation occurred after 3months. Photocatalytic evaluation demonstrated that the as-synthesized TiO2 nanoparticles possess excellent quinoline degradation performance (a 2.33×10(-2)min(-1) apparent reaction rate constant comparing to 1.22×10(-2)min(-1) for P25) and recycle stability (the photocatalytic activity remained 96.6% of the initial activity after four cycles of repetitive uses). These could be attributed to the small size and good water-dispersibility of the as-synthesized TiO2 nanoparticles that led to large specific surface area and easy photogenerated electron-hole transportation.