SURFACE EFFECTS IN PHOTOCHEMISTRY - AN INSITU CYLINDRICAL INTERNAL-REFLECTION FOURIER-TRANSFORM INFRARED INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECT OF RING SUBSTITUENTS ON CHEMISORPTION ONTO TIO2 CERAMIC MEMBRANES

The role of phenyl substituent groups in the formation of surface complexes at the surface of titanium dioxide semiconducting ceramic membranes is investigated with cylindrical internal reflection-Fourier transform infrared (CIR-FTIR) spectroscopy. The CIR-FTIR study presented in this article allows for direct comparison between adsorption mechanisms derived from vibrational spectra at the semiconductor-liquid interface and surface structures influencing aqueous heterogeneous photochemical reactions. Therefore, chemisorption mechanisms we derived for benzoic acid and its substituted compounds could be used for the prediction of their photodegradation behavior. This IR investigation confirms that no adsorption is detectable on the rutile phase of TiO2, thus excluding the role of 5-fold coordinated Ti cations in the adsorption mechanisms. We observed that, for anatase surface, isolated carboxyl groups do not generate a favorable adsorption equilibrium (e.g., benzoic acid). It is proposed that amino and hydroxyl groups substituted in ortho position to a carboxyl group (e.g., salicylic, 3-chlorosalicylic, and anthranilic acids) may lead to a mononuclear bidentate coordination complex with 4-fold coordinated surface titanium cations. The higher adsorption level observed for phthalic acid is interpreted as due to its possibility of adsorbing on a greater number of anatase surface sites, by forming two different surface complexes, involving one or both carboxyl groups. A relationship between change in vibrational spectra of the carboxyl group, for substituted benzoic derivatives, and acidic dissociation constants is presented.