SUMMARY
A sol-gel method was employed to synthesise pure titanium dioxide (TiO2) and surfactant assisted TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs). The effect of novel surfactant viz., Lauryl lactyl lactate on photocatalytic properties of TiO2 was studied. TiO2 NPs were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), UV-Vis Diffuse Reflectance spectra (DRS), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA), and Brunauer – Emmet - Teller (BET) surface area. Anatase phase of TiO2 was confirmed by X-Ray diffraction pattern and the crystallite size was between 9–19 nm. Addition of surfactant improved the BET surface area, surface defects, while the agglomeration of particles was reduced. DRS results revealed that the addition of surfactant to TiO2 sol induced a red shift of the absorption edge which resulted in the reduction of band gap from 3.23 to 3.21 eV. These physicochemical properties of TiO2 NPs were correlated with photocatalytic degradation of phenol. About 92% of phenol degradation was observed for surfactant assisted TiO2 NPs (SA-TiO2). Salicylic acid and caffeine were also degraded using SA-TiO2 NPs.