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Effect of methylene blue modification on the structural, morphological, and photocatalytic properties of nanosized η-TiO2
The structural and morphological features of samples containing titanium dioxide, obtained by the sulfate method in the presence of methylene blue dye MeB (sample with η-TiO2) and in its absence (sample with anatase), have been determined using a complex of analytical methods. For the sample with η-TiO2, the sizes of titanium dioxide crystallites (5.0(2) nm) are smaller than the nanoparticle sizes (5.5–9.0 nm), which does not exclude their defect structure. This sample exhibited a higher tendency of nanoparticles to agglomeration (the presence of strong bonds between nanoparticles) and a low tendency to aggregation (the presence of weak bonds). It is shown that a MeB-modified sample with η-TiO2 has high photocatalytic activity in the visible spectral range in the model reaction of methyl orange dye decomposition. © 2015, Pleiades Publishing, Inc.