Silver-loaded TiO2 powders prepared through mechanical ball milling

Silver (Ag) was loaded on TiO2 powders through mechanical ball milling. Ag-loading was accomplished by adding 4.6, 9.2, and 13.8 ml of AgNO3 solution to the TiO2 powders during the milling process. The resulting powder was characterized by XRD, XPS, SEM, and EDS. The photocatalytic activity of the silver-loaded powder was evaluated in terms of the degradation of methyl orange (MO) solution under ultraviolet (UV) illumination. XRD patterns were refined using the Rietveld analysis to determine the lattice parameters. XRD analysis suggested that Ag was loaded on TiO2 powders in the form of AgO. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Rietveld analysis revealed that silver did not dope into the crystal structure of TiO2. SEM investigations confirmed that ball milling caused a decrease in the average particle size of the powders. Silver-loading improved the photocatalytic activity of the TiO2 powders. The TiO2 powder ball milled without Ag-loading degraded 46% of the MO solution whereas the ball milled with 13.8 ml AgNO3 solution degraded 96% of the MO solution under 1 h UV irradiation. Moreover, TiO2 powders gained antibacterial property after Ag-loading.