High photocatalytic activity of hierarchical SiO2@C-doped TiO2 hollow spheres in UV and visible light towards degradation of rhodamine B

• Published in: Journal of hazardous materials Vol. 340; pp. 309 - 318
• Main Authors: Zhang, Ying, Chen, Juanrong, Hua, Li, Li, Songjun, Zhang, Xuanxuan, Sheng, Weichen, Cao, Shunsheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 15.10.2017
• Subjects: Hierarchical SiO2@C-doped TiO2; In situ synthesis; UV light activity; Visible-light photocatalytic activity; Hierarchical SiO2@C-doped TiO2; UV light activity; In situ synthesis; Visible-light photocatalytic activity
• ISSN: 0304-3894; 1873-3336
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2017.07.018

[Display omitted] •We devise a facial method to develop hierarchical SiO2@C-doped TiO2 hollow spheres.•We prepare non-metal doped SiO2@ TiO2 hollow spheres for the first time.•SiO2@C-doped TiO2 is in situ prepared by directly carbonizing cationic polystyrene spheres.•SiO2@C-doped TiO2 exhibits a higher visible-light/ultraviolet photocatalytic activity than P25 nanoparticles.•This work provides a new insight for constructing other non-metal doped SiO2@TiO2 photocatalysts. Ongoing research activities are targeted to explore high photocatalytic activity of TiO2-based photocatalysts for the degradation of environmental contaminants under UV and visible light irradiation. In this work, we devise a facile, cost-effective technique to in situ synthesize hierarchical SiO2@C-doped TiO2 (SCT) hollow spheres for the first time. This strategy mainly contains the preparation of monodisperse cationic polystyrene spheres (CPS), sequential deposition of inner SiO2, the preparation of the sandwich-like CPS@SiO2@CPS particles, and formation of outer TiO2. After the one-step removal of CPS templates by calcination at 450°C, hierarchical SiO2@C-doped TiO2 hollow spheres are in situ prepared. The morphology, hierarchical structure, and properties of SCT photocatalyst were characterized by TEM. SEM, STEM Mapping, BET, XRD, UV–vis spectroscopy, and XPS. Results strongly confirm the carbon doping in the outer TiO2 lattice of SCT hollow spheres. When the as-synthesized SCT hollow spheres were employed as a photocatalyst for the degradation of Rhodamine B under visible-light and ultraviolet irradiation, the SCT photocatalyst exhibits a higher photocatalytic activity than commercial P25, effectively overcoming the limitations of poorer UV activity for many previous reported TiO2-based photocatalysts due to doping.