Solvothermal Synthesis of Mesoporous TiO2 Using Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate for Photocatalytic Degradation of Methylene Blue

Abstract

Mesoporous titanium dioxide (TiO2) photocatalysts were synthesized via a solvothermal method using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as templates. The effect of the SDS concentration and solution pH value on the resulting TiO2 catalyst and its photocatalytic activity were studied. The photocatalytic activity was assessed by degradation methylene blue under low-power (8W × 4) UV light irradiation. The best performance showed that over 95% of methylene blue was degraded in 120 min and in the presence of S20 (20 mmol SDS addition, pH = 4). With the optimal addition of SDS, the crystal size was reduced, and the surface area was increased. In addition, some bidentate-sulfates (–SO42−) residues were observed within the prepared mesoporous TiO2. The Detail characterization of of the as-prepared TiO2 samples were conducted by X-ray diffraction, Ultraviolet–Visible Spectroscopy, Scanning electron microscope, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, respectively.