Photocatalytic Reduction of Nitrobenzene by Titanium Dioxide Powder

Abstract The feasibility of photocatalytic reduction of nitrobenzene using titanium dioxide powder as photocatalyst, under the protection of nitrogen and presence of hole scavenger conditions, was studied. Effects of the illumination time, amount of catalyst and sorts of solvent on the photocatalytic reduction of nitrobenzene were investigated, respectively. The results showed that, for the photocatalytic reduction of nitrobenzene, aniline was the main product. When the illumination time was 6 h, 8.15×10−4 mol/L of nitrobenzene could be photocatalytically reduced completely, with the yield of aniline being 88.5%. The optimum amount of TiO2 used was 4.0 g/L, the optimum initial pH value of reaction solution was 4.0 and the best solvent was methanol. The kinetics and mechanisms of the photocatalytic reduction of nitrobenzene were also discussed.