Characterization of Titanium Dioxide Nano Particle in Aqueous Solution: pH and Humic Acid Interaction

Abstract

sized materials available in the market. Considering the wide range of industrial applications of TiO2-NPs, their release into the soil and environment would be inevitable and in near future soil will act as a sink of TiO2-NPs. Furthermore, the state of aggregation of the nano particles in the natural environment depends on natural organic matter (humic substances) or environmentally relevant conditions of pH. The size of the TiO2-NP (<10 nm) was measured by the transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In the present investigation, results revealed that the colloidal behaviour of TiO2-NP was significantly influenced by the solution pH. The aggregation of TiO2-NP in aqueous solution was occurred near its isoelectric point (pH: 5.8). The addition of humic acid (HA) (10 and 25 mg L-1) in TiO2-NP suspension increased the stability of colloidal suspension. Humic acid was characterized by using FTIR analysis. The TiO2-NP surface was identified by atomic force microscope (AFM) height-contrast imaging, because AFM can distinguish the difference in material properties.