A facile synthesis of hollow TiO₂ photocatalyst with high amount of carbon exhibiting efficient visible-light photocatalytic performance

ABSTRACT

A facile approach was developed for the synthesis of hollow TiO₂ photocatalyst with a high amount of carbon (C/TiO₂). The method mainly includes the following steps: the preparation of cationic polystyrene spheres (CPSs), deposition of TiO₂ precursor, and the pyrolysis of CPS in an N₂ atmosphere at 450 °C (close system). The structure and morphology of C/N-TiO₂ were characterized by using TEM, XRD, XPS, and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The results confirm that the carbon is coated on the surface of the photocatalysts, substantially enhancing the visible-light harvesting and accelerating the separation of the photo-generated electrons/holes. Interestingly, the formed C/TiO₂ effectively narrows the bandgap of TiO₂, manifesting excellent photocatalytic activities for degradation of MB and Rh B under visible-light irradiation than commercial P25. Therefore, our findings demonstrate that C/TiO₂ is a more promising candidate as visible-light photocatalysts for potential applications.

KEYWORDS:

• C-decorating TiO₂
• hollow TiO₂
• photocatalysis
• high amount of carbon

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to thank National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 21707054]; the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation [grant number 2016M601744] for financial supports to carry out this work.