Preparation and photocatalytic activity of highly ordered mesoporous TiO2–SBA-15

TiO2–SBA-15 complex materials with highly ordered mesostructures have been prepared by a one-step hydrothermal synthesis method of titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) and tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) in an acidic solution using surfactant P123 (EO20PO70EO20) as structure-directing reagent. The prepared materials were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), small-angle X-ray diffraction patterns (SAXRD), Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and N2 adsorption–desorption experiments. The resulting TiO2–SBA-15 complex materials showed highly ordered mesoporous structure with uniform pore sizes of 5.95 and 8.24 nm, high specific surface areas SBET of 689 m2 g− 1 and 347 m2 g− 1 at different hydrothermal temperatures (100 °C and 130 °C). The photocatalytic activity of these TiO2–SBA-15 mesoporous materials has been studied by 4-chlorophenol decomposition under UV light irradiation. The TiO2–SBA-15 mesoporous materials prepared at the TiO2:SiO2 mass ratios of 25:75, 40:60 and 50:50 showed higher photocatalytic activity than that prepared at the TiO2:SiO2 mass ratio of 75:25.