Abstract
A facile synthesis route is reported for preparation of mesoporous TiO2 nanoparticles (MT-x) through evaporation induced self-assembly by using Pluronic F127, titanium isopropoxide, and various amounts of ethanol as templating agents, titanium sources and solvents, respectively. A variety of different spectroscopic and analytical techniques, such as small- and large-angle powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopies were used to characterize the physicochemical properties of various MT-x catalysts. Among the catalysts, MT-20 was found to have better mesostructures formed by the arrangement of anatase TiO2 nanoparticles of ca. 17.3nm with broad interparticle pore size distribution. Hydrogen generation from water splitting on MT-20 using visible light was enhanced by at least 8.7 times if compared with the conventional TiO2 photocatalyst. The superior photocatalytic performances observed for the synthesized MT-20 may be attributed to the presence of unique nanostructures in the TiO2 photocatalysts.
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