Photocatalytic performance of TiO2-zeolite templated carbon composites in organic contaminant degradation

TiO2 composites with zeolite templated carbon (TiO2-ZTC) and activated carbon (TiO2-AC) were prepared and used as the photocatalysts for comparative studies with pure TiO2. TiO2-ZTC exhibited the highest rate of methylene blue degradation with a rate approximately 4 and 400 times higher than those of TiO2-AC and pure TiO2, respectively. Moreover, the highest catalytic performance of TiO2-ZTC in gas-phase degradation of acetone was approximately 1.1 and 12.9 times higher than TiO2-AC and pure TiO2, respectively. These outstanding performances could be attributed to high surface area, pore volume, and hydrophobic surface properties, leading to improvement in the adsorption properties of organic molecules.