A facile synthesis method of TiO2@SiO2 porous core shell structure for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Abstract

Limited by low specific surface area and complex synthesis methods, it is laborious to realize wide utilization of photocatalytic materials. Although various photocatalytic materials have been reported constantly, as a vital prototype of photocatalytic materials with the advantages of low cost, no-toxicity, and high stability, TiO2 still reveals great research potential. Nevertheless, pure TiO2 usually present small specific surface area and low photocatalytic activity. Besides, the preparation process of composite photocatalysts based on TiO2 remain inconvenient. Hence, to enhance the photocatalytic activity of TiO2, this work proposed a facile synthesis method to fabricate a TiO2@SiO2 porous core shell structure materials based on our previous research. Specifically, silica microspheres were prepared by one-step method with atmospheric pressure drying. And TiO2@SiO2 composite gel was fabricated by a primitive liquid phase deposition. The whole process retains simple and green and the obtained porous core shell materials display extraordinary specific surface area (over 400 ​m2/g) with high photocatalytic efficiency. Under optimized conditions, the H2 production rates are roughly 3 times higher than that of P25 powder, which shows great application potential. This study confirms that the photocatalytic performance can be enhanced by improvement of active site area and provides some insights in convenient preparation of TiO2 based photocatalysts as well.