Synthesis and Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity of Black Porous Zr-doped TiO2 Monoliths

Abstract

Black Porous Zr-doped TiO2 monoliths were successfully synthesized by a combined route including sol–gel method with polystyrene spheres as template followed by calcination at high temperature in the presence of oxygen. As-synthesized samples were then treated in hydrogen atmosphere at 500[Formula: see text]C for 6[Formula: see text]h to obtain black Porous Zr-doped TiO2 monoliths. This as-synthesized black porous Zr-doped TiO2 composite showed relatively narrow bandgap compared to the pure anatase phase of TiO2, which may have its origin from the contributions from the Zr impurity and oxygen vacancies. The photocatalytic activity of the black porous Zr-doped TiO2 monolith was examined by carrying out the dye degradation on Rhodamine B under visible irradiation. Our experimental results indicate that black porous 0.9% Zr-doped TiO2 sample exhibits high photocatalytic activity with the photodecomposition of 95.25% under visible irradiation for 120[Formula: see text]min.