A simple and innovative route to remarkably enhance the photocatalytic performance of TiO2: Using micro-meso porous silica nanofibers as carrier to support highly-dispersed TiO2 nanoparticles

摘要

TiO2 nanoparticles/micro-meso porous silica nanofibers hybrid photocatalyst (TiO2/MMPSNF) was successfully synthesized by a simple and innovative sol-adhesion method. The composition, crystalline phase, microstructure and surface property of the as-prepared composite material were characterized. The results show that the TiO2/MMPSNF is composed of TiO2 and SiO2 with weight ratio of about 1:1.7. Micro-meso porous silica nanofibers (MMPSNF) is combined with TiO2 nanoparticles through Ti-O-Si bond, which effectively hinders the anatase-to-rutile phase transition and restrains the crystalline growth of TiO2. The microstructure of the TiO2/MMPSNF shows that the highly dispersed TiO2 nano particles are uniformly distributed on the surface of the MMPSNF to form a monolayer dispersion structure. The photocatalytic performances of as-prepared samples were evaluated through a series of kinetic tests on degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB). The results show that the TiO2/MMPSNF has much higher adsorption capacity and photocatalytic activity than that of the reference materials of unsupported sol-gel TiO2 and P25 TiO2 nanoparticles. According to the investigation, it is proposed that the MMPSNF can effectively enhance the photocatalytic activity of the hybrid photocatalyst by providing synergistic effect of a highly absorptive substrate and a nano-scaled supporter. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.