Highly ordered Ti-SBA-15: Efficient H2 adsorbent and photocatalyst for eco-toxic dye degradation

Highly ordered 2D-hexagonal mesoporous titanium silicate Ti-SBA-15 materials (space group p6mm) have been synthesized hydrothermally in acidic medium employing amphiphilic tri-block copolymer, Pluronic F127 as structure directing agent. Samples are characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, FT IR spectroscopy, UV–visible diffuse reflectance measurements, N2 adsorption/desorption and TG-DTA analysis. XRD and TEM results suggested the presence of highly ordered mesophase with hexagonal pore arrangements. BET surface area for Ti-SBA-15 (924 m2 g−1) is considerably higher than the pure silica SBA-15 (611 m2 g−1) prepared following the same synthetic route. UV–visible and FT-IR studies suggested the incorporation of mostly tetrahedral titanium (IV) species, along with some six-coordinated sites in the silicate network. This material shows very good H2 adsorption capacity at higher pressure and excellent catalytic activity in the photocatalytic degradation of ecologically abundant dye methylene blue.