NANOSTRUCTURED TiO2/Ti BASED ELECTRODES OBTAINED FROM TITANIUM SCRAP

The aim of this paper is to transform a waste material (a scrap resulted from mechanical processing of titanium ingots fabrication) into a useful one. Starting from titanium scrap and using anodization, we generate at the surface an anatase nano-architecture, with photocatalytic properties. Copper doping for anatase architecture was the procedure used to enhance the photocatalytic behavior for the new created electrode. Electrochemical surface investigations and high-resolution electronic scanning microscopes images, were performed to demonstrate the photocatalytic behaviour of this transformed waste. The new created electrode covered with TiO(2)CuNPs was successfully used for phenol degradation up to benzoquinone and hydrochinone (phenol partial degradation compounds).