Facile and new synthesis of cobalt doped mesoporous TiO2 with high visible-light performance

Cobalt doped and undoped mesoporous titania were synthesized using resin acid as template. Moreover, without adding extra cobalt source, cobalt doped mesoporous titania was also synthesized by using cobalt resinate as both template and cobalt source. These mesoporous samples were characterized by a combination of various physicochemical techniques, such as N2 adsorption/adsorption isotherm, UV–vis diffuse reflectance, X-ray diffraction, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, XPS, and FT-IR. They were used for the photodegradation of methyl blue and Rhdamine B under visible light. It was found that P25 and mesoporous TiO2 synthesized using resin acid as template did not exhibit any meaningful activity for the photodegradation of two dyes under visible light. By contrast, cobalt doped mesoporous titania synthesized by using resin acid as template exhibited more significant photocatalytic yield (94%) for Rhdamine B. Moreover, cobalt doped mesoporous titania synthesized by using cobalt resinate as template also exhibited similar high photocatalytic activity for methyl blue to the former.