Photocatalytic properties of TiO2@polymer and TiO2@carbon aerogel composites prepared by atomic layer deposition

Abstract

Monolithic structured TiO2/aerogel composites were prepared from resorcinol-formaldehyde polymer aerogel (RFA) and its carbon aerogel (RFCA) derivative. A resorcinol-formaldehyde hydrogel was synthesized in a sol-gel reaction and transformed into polymer aerogel by supercritical drying. The RFA was converted to carbon aerogel by pyrolysis at 900 °C in dry N2. Amorphous and crystalline TiO2 layers were grown from TiCl4 and H2O precursors by atomic layer deposition (ALD) at 80 °C and 250 °C, respectively, on both RFA and RFCA. The substrates and the composites were studied by N2 adsorption, TG/DTA-MS, Raman, SEM-EDX and TEM techniques. Their photocatalytic activity was compared in the UV catalyzed decomposition reaction of methyl orange dye.