Abstract
Abstract The mono-dispersed hollow TiO2 nanospheres were fabricated by calcining the polystyrene-titania composite microspheres prepared via a sol-gel process of titanium tetrabutoxide (TBOT) using cationic polystyrene (PS) spheres as template. The microstructure, the photocatalytic activity of the composite microspheres and the hollow nanospheres were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and UV-VIS DRS. The results indicate that the diameter of hollow titania spheres is ca.100 nm and the sizes of titania hollow spheres are about 25% smaller than those of the titania-coated PS spheres as a result of calcination-induced shrinkage. The thickness of TiO2 shell is finely tuned by varying the amount of titania precursor. The TiO2 shell is composed of many phase separated anatase/rutile mixed nanocrystallite. The prepared samples show much better photocatalytic activity in the degradation of methyl orange aqueous solution than commercial P25.
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