Facile synthesis of controllable carbonate-doped TiO2 microspheres for visible light photocatalytic applications

Abstract

Mesoporous carbonate-doped TiO2 microspheres were prepared by a facile solvothermal route combining a low-temperature annealing process. XPS, TG, and FTIR analysis revealed the presence of carbonate species on TiO2 surface, which extended the optical absorption of the TiO2 microspheres to the visible region. The carbonate-doped T200 microspheres exhibited much higher photocatalytic degradation of MO activity compared with non-doped T400 microspheres under visible light illumination. By adjusting initial titanium precursor concentration and reaction time, the best photocatalytic performance of carbonate-doped T200 microspheres was obtained. In addition, carbonate-doped T200 microspheres also displayed good photocatalytic disinfection efficiency towards Escherichia coli under visible light exposure. Our study revealed that the carbonate-doped TiO2 microspheres would be applied in the water treatment for the degradation of organic pollutants and disinfection of bacteria.