Nano TiO2-functionalized magnetic-cored dendrimer as a photocatalyst

Nano-sized TiO2 terminals were linked with magnetic-cored dendrimers by a divergent method in this research. Significant improvement in photocatalytic activity was monitored in decolorization of methyl orange (MO) in comparison with bare nano TiO2 and Fe/Ti mixture at the same ratio. Enhanced photocatalytic activity of magnetic-cored dendrimers with nano-sized TiO2 (TD) can be attributed to restrained recombination of electron-hole pairs because of photoexcited electron capture in dendrimers. MO decolorization was facilitated by synergistic effect from surface adsorption and photocatalytic activity. Experimental results were fitted well with the Langmuir-Hinshelwood (L-H) model, which indicated that the photodecolorization after adsorption. The observed decolorization rate constant and the adsorption coefficient values were 0.0478 and 0.0812, respectively. Reuse of TD was also investigated for five successive runs. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reservedThis work was supported by Nano-Convergence Foundation [Synthesis of magnetic-cored dendrimer nano material for high efficiency adsorption of heavy metal] funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST, Korea) & the Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE, Korea), and by the Korea Ministry of Environment as "The GAIA Project (20120000550001)