Les ressources en eau sont menacées par diverses formes de pollution et les procédés de traitement proposés sont souvent complexes avec des résultats qui ne sont pas toujours satisfaisants. Cette étude vise à développer un traitement, simple et peu coûteux pour réduire au maximum la présence dans l’eau des acides humiques (AH), un polluant organique. L’approche adoptée est la mise en place d’un procédé hybride combinant l’adsorption et la photocatalyse hétérogène réalisée avec le dioxyde de titane. La méthode d’adsorption a été réalisée d’une part avec du charbon actif et d’autre part avec trois argiles provenant de la Côte d’Ivoire. Le charbon actif a été préparé à partir des coques de coco selon une procédure assez simplifiée, sans additifs chimiques, dans le souci d’obtenir un adsorbant économique et écologique. Les trois argiles brutes (Dabou, Yamoussoukro et Katiola) ont chacune subi des opérations de purification pour obtenir des fractions pures. Des tests de caractérisation réalisés par diverses techniques (analyse élémentaire, DRX, adsorption d’azote, IR, etc.) ont été effectués sur les adsorbants obtenus. Les essais d’adsorption réalisés avec le charbon ont montré qu’aucune élimination des AH n’a été observé. La raison principale serait le manque de groupements fonctionnels sur la surface du charbon préparé. Les tests d’adsorption conduit avec les argiles ont montré que ces matériaux sont capables d’éliminer les AH. Les résultats ont révélé que l’argile la plus riche en kaolinite (celle de Yamoussoukro) a une capacité d’adsorption maximale largement supérieure (115 mg/g) par rapport aux autres (20 et 15 mg/g pour Dabou et Katiola respectivement). Cette différence trouve son explication dans la composition minéralogique et structurale de chacune des argiles. Les tests de photocatalyse menés ont montré une dégradation des macromolécules d’AH en des composés de plus petites tailles. La minéralisation de la matière organique a été observée avec une réduction du carbone organique total de l’ordre de 72 et 82 % respectivement aux pH 7 et 3. En mettant en série à pH 3, les deux procédés à savoir l’adsorption suivie de la photocatalyse, une réduction de 95% du carbone organique total des AH est obtenue. Le procédé hybride ainsi réalisé montre un avantage certain car il permet d’éliminer la quasi-totalité de la pollution organique initiale. / Water resources are threatened by various forms of pollution and the proposed treatment processes are often complex with results that are not always satisfactory. This study aims to develop a simple and inexpensive treatment to minimize the presence of humic acids (HA), an organic pollutant, in water. The approach adopted is the establishment of a hybrid process combining adsorption and heterogeneous photocatalysis performed with titanium dioxide. The adsorption method was carried out primary with activated carbon and secondary with three clays from Ivory Coast. Activated carbon was prepared from coconut shell by a simplified procedure, without chemical additives, in order to obtain an economic and ecological adsorbent. The three raw clays (Dabou, Yamoussoukro and Katiola) each underwent purification operations to obtain pure fractions. Characterization tests including various techniques (elemental analysis, XRD, nitrogen adsorption, IR, etc.) were carried out on the adsorbents obtained. Adsorption tests carried out with the coal showed that no elimination of HA was observed. The main reason is the lack of functional groups on the surface of the prepared coal. The adsorption tests conducted with the clays have shown that these materials are capable of removing HA. The results revealed that the clay richest in kaolinite (Yamoussoukro) has a much higher maximum adsorption capacity (115 mg/g) compared to the others (20 and 15 mg/g for Dabou and Katiola respectively). This difference found its explanation in the mineralogical and structural composition of each of the clays. Photocatalysis tests showed a degradation of the macromolecules of HA into smaller sizes compounds. The mineralization of the organic matter was observed with total organic carbon reduction rate equal to 72 and 82% at pH 7 and 3 respectively. By placing in series the two processes namely adsorption followed by photocatalysis, the removal percentage of HA obtained at pH 3, is about 95%. This hybrid process shows an advantage since it makes it possible to eliminate almost all of the initial organic pollution.

Diploma thesis Iron Functionalized Nanoparticles of Titanium Dioxide Lenka Volfová 2017, ABSTRACT Iron-functionalized TiO2 were obtained by hydrolysis of aqueous solutions of titanyl sulfate with addition of ferric nitrate with ammonium hydroxide and the reaction filtered and washed with hydrogen peroxide. The colloid solutions thus prepared were lyophilized and the products were subsequently annealed at three different temperatures of 650 řC, 800 řC and 950 řC. The prepared doped materials were characterized by powder X-ray diffractometry, electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, Mössbauer spectroscopy, UV/VIS spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and differential thermal analysis, and measurement of the specific surface area. Photocatalytic activity was determined by measuring of the decomposition of kinetics of 4-chlorophenol in an aqueous solution in the ultraviolet and visible area. For comparison of activity in the UV area and in the visible area were used a previously prepared highly photoactive specimen and standard TiO2 from Kronos, respectively. Keywords: Doped titanium dioxide, nanostructure, X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, Mössbauer spectroscopy, suppression of photoactivity

In dieser Arbeit wurde eine systematische Untersuchung der Abscheidung von TiO2 mittels reaktiver Ionenstrahlzerstäubung von einem metallischen Ti-Target sowie von einem keramischen TiO2-Target durchgeführt. Der Einfluss der Prozessparameter, d.h. der Ionensorte, der Ionenenergie, des Einfalls- und Emissionswinkels sowie des Targetmaterials, auf die Eigenschaften der Sekundärteilchen und der TiO2-Schichten wurde untersucht. Der Ionenstrahl wurde mit einer Faradaysonde, einem Gegenfeldanalysator und einem energieselektiven Massenspektrometer charakterisiert. Das Massenspektrometer wurde auch zur Untersuchung der Massen- und Energieverteilung der Sekundärionen eingesetzt. Mit SDTrimSP simulierte Energieverteilungen der Sekundärteilchen zeigten eine gute Übereinstimmung mit den gemessenen Energieverteilungen der Sekundärionen. Die TiO2-Schichten wurden mittels Ellipsometrie, Röntgendiffraktometrie, -reflektometrie, Rutherford-Rückstreu-Spektrometrie und Rasterkraftmikroskopie untersucht. Eine Verringerung des Streuwinkel führte zu einer Erhöhung der Sekundärteilchenenergien, resultierend daraus wurde eine verstärkte Implantation von Primärteilchen, eine Oberflächenglättung sowie eine systematischen Änderung der Massendichte und folglich der optischen Eigenschaften beobachtet. Die Ionenenergie und das Targetmaterial spielten dabei eine untergeordnete Rolle. / A systematic investigation of the reactive ion beam sputter deposition of TiO2 from a metallic Ti and a ceramic TiO2 target was performed. The influence of the process parameters, i.e. the ion species, ion energy, ion incidence angle, emission angle, and the target material, on the properties of the secondary particles and the TiO2 films was investigated. The ion beam was characterized with a Faraday probe, a retarding potential analyzer, and an energy-selective mass spectrometer. The mass spectrometer was also used to determine the mass and energy distribution of the secondary ions. The experimentally obtained energy distributions were compared to the energy distributions of the secondary particles that were simulated with SDTrimSP. A good agreement was found. The TiO2 films were investigated by spectroscopic ellipsometry, X-ray diffraction, X-ray reflectivity, Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, and atomic force microscopy. Reducing the scattering angle lead to an increase of the secondary particle energies, resulting in an enhanced implantation of primary particles, surface smoothing, and a systematic change of the mass density and consequently of the optical properties. The ion energy and the target material had a minor influence.

Im Fokus der vorliegenden Arbeit liegt das Widerstandsschalten von HfO2- und TiO2-Dünnschichten, wobei insbesondere auf den Einfluss der Kristallstruktur, der Stöchiometrie und der Elektrodenmaterialien ((inert, Pt) und (reaktiv, Ti/Pt)) eingegangen wurde. Die HfO2-Dünnschichten wurden mittels Atomlagenabscheidung (ALD) durch die Reaktion von Tetrakis(dimethylamido)hafnium mit Wasser bei Temperaturen von 100°C bis 350°C abgeschieden. Das beste ALD-Wachstum mit der geringsten Konzentration an Wasserstoff wurde für eine Temperatur von 300°C erhalten. Sowohl eine geringere als auch eine höhere Abscheidetemperatur führte durch parasitäre CVD-artige Prozesse bzw. durch die ungewollte thermische Zersetzung des Präkursors zu einer größeren Wasserstoffkonzentration. Des Weiteren wurde eine Korrelation zwischen der Wachstumsrate pro Zyklus, der Schichtdickenhomogenität und der Wasserstoffkonzentration in den HfO2-Schichten festgestellt. Das Widerstandsschalten wurde an amorphen (150°C) und polykristallinen (300°C) HfO2-Schichten mit unstrukturierten Rückelektroden und kreisförmigen Vorderseitenelektroden untersucht. Die Verwendung von symmetrischen Pt-Pt-Elektroden führte bei beiden Schichttypen zum unipolaren Schaltmodus. Der unipolare Schaltmodus wurde ebenfalls bei Verwendung von asymmetrischen Pt-Ti/Pt-Elektroden im Zusammenspiel mit der amorphen HfO2-Phase beobachtet. Eine Ausnahme stellt die Kombination von asymmetrischen Elektroden mit der polykristallinen HfO2-Phase dar. Dabei wurde nach der Elektroformierung mit positiv angelegter Spannung an die Vorderseitenelektrode der bipolare Schaltmodus erhalten. Eine Erklärung dafür liefert die Betrachtung der Filament-Wachstumsrichtung während der Elektroformierung. Die TiO2-Dünnschichten wurden durch reaktives Magnetronsputtern gewachsen. Die Stöchiometrie dieser Schichten wurde durch die Bestrahlung mit Ar-Ionen gezielt verändert. Dabei führt das bevorzugte Herausschlagen von Sauerstoff im Vergleich zum Titan zu einer an Sauerstoff verarmten TiOx-Schicht, welche sich durch die verwendete Ionenenergie von 2keV in oberflächennahen Bereichen befindet. Die Ausdehnung der TiOx-Schicht wurde mit einer TRIDYN-Simulation auf ca. 4nm bestimmt. Während sich zwischen einer TiO2-Schicht und einer Pt-Elektrode ein Schottky-Kontakt ausbildet, führt das Einbringen einer TiOx-Schicht zu einem ohmschen Kontakt. Für die Charakterisierung des Widerstandsschaltens an den mit Ar-Ionen bestrahlten TiO2-Schichten wurde somit auf symmetrische Pt-Pt-Elektroden zurückgegriffen. Im Bereich der getesteten Fluenzen von 1 x 10^13 Ar+/cm2 bis 1 x 10^16 Ar+/cm2 wurde mit einer Fluenz von 1 x 10^14 Ar+/cm2 sowohl die beste Ausbeute als auch die größten Endurance-Werte erzielt. / The work focuses on the resistive switching of HfO2 and TiO2 thin films. Especially the influence of crystal structure, stoichiometry and electrode materials ((inert, Pt) and (reactive, Ti/Pt)) have been examined. HfO2 thin films have been grown at temperatures ranging from 100°C to 350°C through the process of atomic layer deposition (ALD) by the reaction of tetrakis(dimethylamido)-hafnium with water. The best ALD growth with the lowest concentration of hydrogen was achieved at a temperature of 300°C. Both lower and higher deposition temperatures caused higher hydrogen concentrations due to parasitic CVD-like processes or thermal decomposition of the precursor. Moreover a correlation between the growth rate per cycle, the layer thickness uniformity and the hydrogen concentration in the HfO2 films was observed. Resistive switching was examined in amorphous (150°C) and polycrystalline (300°C) HfO2 films with unstructured bottom electrodes and circular structured top electrodes. The use of symmetric Pt-Pt-electrodes caused the unipolar switching mode in both layer types. The unipolar switching mode was also observed when asymmetric Pt-Ti/Pt-electrodes were used with an amorphous phase of the HfO2 layer. An exception is the use of asymmetric electrodes with the polycrystalline phase of the HfO2 layer. In this case electroforming with the application of positive voltage to the top electrode resulted in the bipolar switching mode. This is explained when looking at the filament growth direction during electroforming. TiO2 thin films were grown by reactive magnetron sputtering. The stoichiometry of these layers was modified by irradiation with Ar-ions. The preferential sputtering of oxygen compared to titanium causes a surface-near oxygen deficient TiOx layer due to the used ion energy of 2 keV. The depth of the TiOx layer was estimated to be 4 nm by using a TRIDYN simulation. While a Schottky contact formed between a TiO2 layer and a Pt-electrode, the use of a TiOx layer led to an ohmic contact. Symmetric Pt-Pt-electrodes were used to characterize resistive switching of TiO2 layers which have been irradiated with Ar-ions. The tested fluences ranged from 1×10^13 Ar+/cm2 to 1 × 10^16 Ar+/cm2. A fluence of 1 × 10^14 Ar+/cm2 resulted in the best yield and highest endurance.

Nanoparticles have been used in industry and in medicine due to their properties which give them beneficial uses. This usage of the nanoparticles has risen the question about how harmful they are to the human body, the connection between the exposure to nanoparticles, and many diseases that occur in the body. Methods This study focused on the effect of nanoparticles in a whole human blood loop model. The blood was incubated with Silica, Titanium dioxide and Palladium particles in heparinized loops without any anticoagulants added. The blood’s cell count was analyzed with a cell counter and then complement, and contact system’s markers were analyzed with ELISA to detect a presence of activations in the systems. Experiments one to five were an optimization of test settings. Results An activation of the contact system was initiated in the loops containing the aggregated titanium dioxide nanoparticles. A high platelets consumption up to 73.8 % was observed as well as two visible clots. On top of that, blood smears showed micro-clots in the blood incubated with the aggregated nanoparticles. Conclusion Nanoparticles initiated an activation in the contact system in the aggregated form in comparison with the dispersed form. Further and deeper studies should be executed to observe the importance of the single or the aggregated form in the actual effect on the immune system.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / This thesis starts with the reviewing of studies on the loading of noble metals and nanostructured metal oxides into bulk heterojunction organic solar cell device architectures. The reviews focused on the innovative developments in the use of various fullerene derivatives as electron acceptors in organic solar cells. It additionally reflected on the effect of metallic nanoparticles (NPs), such as gold (Au) and silver (Ag), on the performance of organic solar cells. Besides the metallic NPs, the effect of metal oxide nanoparticle loading, e.g. CuO, ZnO and TiO2, on the organic solar cell performance, and the use of noble metals doped TiO2 on the gas sensing application were reviewed. / 2024

No description available.

Ce travail a pour objet d’améliorer les performances d’un réacteur photocatalytique tubulaire de traitement des COVs, en le garnissant avec des supports structurés et imprégnés de TiO2. Grâce à un montage adapté, l’efficacité du réacteur est suivie en mesurant le taux de conversion du méthanol, choisi comme polluant modèle. Différentes géométries de support catalytique ont été fabriquées par stéréolithographie. Parmi toutes les géométries testées, la structure alvéolaire, constituée de canaux verticaux pour le passage du fluide et de canaux horizontaux pour le passage de la lumière, permet une efficacité optimale du réacteur. La modélisation du réacteur, tenant compte de la distribution de la lumière dans le support, montre que le transfert de matière est limitant lorsque le diamètre des canaux est plus petit que 4 mm. En revanche, lorsque le diamètre des canaux est supérieur à 5 mm, le manque d'efficacité est dû à une diminution de l'absorption de la lumière incidente. / The aim of the work is to improve the efficiency of a photocatalytic tubular reactor for VOCs abatement, while loading it with structured catalytic supports impregnated of TiO2.Thanks to a photocatalytic set-up , the efficiency of the reactor is followed by measuring the conversion rate of a model pollutant: methanol. Different geometries of support have been made by stereolithography. Among all tested geometries, the alveolar structure, composed of vertical channels for light penetration, and horizontal channels for the circulation of the gas flow, leads to an optimal degradation of the pollutant. The modelling of the reactor, taking into account the light distribution, shows that the mass transfer is limiting when the diameter of the channels is smaller than 4 mm. On the other hand, when the diameter of the channels is bigger than 5 mm, the lack of efficiency is due to a reduction of the absorption of the incident light by the catalytic surface.

M. Tech. (Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Applied and Computer Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / Electrospinning is a method that has gained more attention due to its capability in spinning a wide variety of polymeric fibers and nanoparticles embedded in polymer fibers. Polymer blending has been considered the most appropriate way for creating new materials with fused properties which improve poor chemical, mechanical, thermal and dynamic mechanical properties of each polymer. Hence, in this study, electrospinning technique was used to fabricate polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers at concentrations of (10, 12 and 14 wt%) and cellulose acetate (CA) nanofibers at concentrations of (14, 16 and 18 wt%). 10wt% of PAN and 16 wt% of CA were blended together and the optimum blend ratio was found to be 80/20 PAN/CA. TiO2 nanoparticles (0.2 and 0.4 wt%) were incorporated into CA nanofibers and (1, 2 and 3 wt%) were incorporated into PAN and PAN/CA blended polymers, respectively. Applied voltages of 20, 22 and 24 kV were varied at a spinning distance of 15cm and the optimum voltage for the fabrication of composite was 22 kV. The sol-gel method was used to synthesise the TiO2 nanoparticles at different calcination temperatures of 400, 500 and 600 ºC. The fabricated composite nanofibers were tested for antibacterial and photocatalytic activities. The synthesised nanomaterials were characterized using SEM, TEM, EDX, UV-Vis, PL, FTIR spectroscopy, XRD and TGA. The absorption and emission spectra illustrated the formation of TiO2 nanoparticles and the increase in absorption band edges. TEM showed the spherical morphology of the nanoparticles with average diameter of 12.2 nm for nanoparticles calcined at 500 ºC. SEM illustrated the diameter and morphology of the nanofibers and composites with the average diameter of 220, 338, 181, 250, 538, 294 nm for PAN, CA, PAN-TiO2, CA-TiO2, PAN/CA and PAN/CA-TiO2, respectively. XRD revealed anatase phase as the dominant crystalline phase of the synthesised nanoparticles. FTIR spectroscopy and EDX signified that the formation of composite nanofibers and the presence of TiO2 nanoparticles corresponded to the Ti-O stretching and Ti-O-Ti bands on the FTIR spectra. The antimicrobial activity of the composite nanofibers were tested against E. coli, S. aureus and C. albicans microorganisms. The photocatalytic activity of the nanomaterials was tested using methyl orange dye. PAN/CA-TiO2 composite nanofibers revealed the greatest antibacterial activity against selected microorganisms as compared to the other nanocomposites. PAN/CA-TiO2 nanocomposite (44%) showed greater rate of photodegradation of methyl orange than PAN-TiO2 nanofibers (28%) and TiO2 nanoparticles (12%) under visible light irradiation.

[pt] O dióxido de titânio é amplamente utilizado pela indústria e pesquisa como fotocatalisador, cuja principal desvantagem ainda é sua aplicação sob luz visível. Propriedades como quantidade de fases, tamanho do cristalito, área de superfície específica, volume de poros e valor da banda proibida (Eg) são explorados por métodos de síntes e para aprimorar a performance do TiO2. No entanto, elas são ajustadas empiracamente. O presente trabalho foi realizado a fim de descrever uma relação analítica entre essas propriedades para a fotocatálise, usando Redes Neurais Artificiais (RNAs) como ferramente estatística. Afim de ter o banco de dados mais representativo, foram usados 53 artigos. O Eg foi considerado a medida a qual avalia a performance fotocatalítica, sendo o parâmetro de saída da rede. Dois blocos A e B, distintos pelas variáveis de entrada, foram arranjados em grupos para investigar a influência das variáveis em pares, com 257 e 220 fotocatalisadores para cada, respectivamente. Exploraram-se diferentes algoritmos de treinamento (baseados em Retropropagação), tipos de redes (Feedforward, Cascade forward e Elman), funções de transferência, número de neurônios e redemulticamadas. Avaliaram-se os modelos pela Soma dos Erros Quadráticos (SSE),pelo coeficiente de correlação de regressão (R2) tanto para o treinamento e quanto para o teste, pelo comportamento de predição do banco de dados e pelo diagrama de regressão dos valores preditos pelos observados. Os resultados do bloco A sugerem que as variáveis não aparentam ter uma relação. Os modelos de múltiplas camadas no bloco B revelaram um aumento no desempenho. O resultado de maior coeficiente teve topologia de 4-4-6-1, correspondendo a camada de entrada, primeira camada oculta, segunda camada oculta e camda de saída, respectivamente. Obteve-se R2 de 84 por cento para o treinamento e 50 por cento para o teste, com SSE de 2.24.Esse resultado sugere que a rede não é capaz de prever o Eg, mas ela pode ser aprimorada. Os parâmetros estruturais devem ser revisados, de acordo com padrões de caracterizações e dados estatísticos. Consequentemente, o modelo pode ser bem ajustado, otimizado e usado na melhoria da fotocatálise. / [en] Titanium dioxide has been widely applied by industry and scientific research as a photocatalyst,whose main drawback still has been the application under visible light.Properties such as phases amount,crystallite size, specific surface area, pore volume, and band gap value (Eg)have been explored by synthesis methods to improve TiO2 s performance. However, they are empirically adjusted.The present work was carried out to describe an analytical relation between those properties for photocatalysis, using Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) as a statistical tool. Aiming the most representative set, 53 literature papers were used for the database. Eg was considered the measurement which evaluates the photocatalytic performance, namely the network s out put variable. Two blocks A and B, which are distinguished by input variables, were arranged into groups to investigate the variables pair influences, using 257 and 220 photocatalysts vectors for each,respectively. Modelling attempts examined different training algorithms(based on Back- propagation), types of networks (Feedforward, Cascade forward and Elman), transfer functions, number of hidden neurons, and multilayer network.The developedmodelswereevaluatedbythesumofsquarederror(SSE),the correlation coefficient(R2) of regression for both training and test data, the prediction behaviour of the dataset,and the regression diagram of predicted and observed values. The block A results suggest the variables do not have an apparent relationship. Multilayers models on block B revealed an increase of network identification performance. The result with the highest coefficient showed 4-4-6-1 topology; corresponding, respectively, to input, first hidden, second hidden and output layers.It had R2 of 84 percent for training and to 50 percent fortest, with SSE of 2.24.This result suggests this network is not able topredict the Eg, but it can be improved. The structural properties should be reviewed, according to standards of characterization and statistical data. Hence, the model could be well fitted, optimized, and used for photocatalysis improvement.