A facile method to prepare mesoporous anatase TiO2 materials in water at lower temperatures

Abstract

Mesoporous anatase TiO2 has been successfully prepared in water at lower temperatures than 90°C. Firstly, amorphous TiO2 gels were prepared by conventional sol–gel method at room temperature with tetrabutyl titanate as precursor, and then TiO2 gels were directly put into water at temperatures of 50–90°C for 0.5–10h to form mesoporous anatase TiO2. The as-prepared mesoporous TiO2 was characterized by XRD, TEM, FTIR, Raman, UV–vis DRS, DSC–TGA, and XPS. The results showed that mesoporous anatase TiO2 contained some organic residuals, the mean size of the TiO2 nanocrystals was in the range of 3.5–5.4nm, and their BET specific surface areas were in the range of 235–345m2g−1. The photocatalytic activity of as-prepared TiO2 was obviously higher than those of the commercial TiO2 (P25) and TiO2 calcined at 450°C for 3h under UV or visible light irradiation.