Polymerizable sol-gel precursor mediated synthesis of TiO2 supported zeolite-4A and its photodegradation of methylene blue

A polymerizable sol-gel method has been employed to synthesize tailored TiO2 supported zeolite-4A. The synthetic procedure was optimized by using FTIR, TGA and DSC to prepare various TiO2 loading ranging from 10 to 30 wt% on the support The as-synthesized materials were characterized thoroughly with powder XRD, SEM, UV-Vis spectroscopy and BET surface area measurements. The characterization reveals that the polymerizable sal gel approach yields highly dispersed nano-crystalline TiO2 on the zeolite-4A support. The tailored materials exhibited high rate of photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue at alkaline pH. The used catalysts were subjected to recyclability investigations, which demonstrated highly stable surface of these materials. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.