In-situ anatase phase stabilization of titania photocatalyst by sintering in presence of Zr4+ organic salts

The direct in-situ stabilization of an anatase-based nanocrystalline photocatalyst (Degussa P25) was obtained by sintering the catalyst powder in presence of Zr4+ organic salts. This approach allows the doping of an already-formed nanocrystalline photocatalyst instead of introducing the dopant in the crystal lattice during the catalyst synthesis. The procedure was demonstrated by the production of thick ceramic layers using the screen printing technique. This new method allows to easily stabilize the anatase phase 200 °C higher than the undoped P25 maintaining the same photocatalytic activity. The process was studied using specifically formulated screen-printing inks added with Zr4+ organic salt at 1% and 2% Zr/Ti molar ratio. The anatase phase stability was investigated in the 500-900 °C temperature range analysing the resulting catalysts with XRD, TEM and (S)TEM-EDS. The catalytic activity of the screen-printed layers was assessed by measuring the degradation of toluene in air at ambient concentration (500 nmol m-3) and low UV-A irradiance (180 µW cm-2). The described in-situ stabilization method could be potentially applied to any deposition process involving already formed anatase photocatalyst, allowing higher sintering temperature and then an improved mechanical stability of the active layers without photocatalytic activity degradation.