Hollow mesoporous titania microspheres: New technology and enhanced photocatalytic activity

Hollow titania microspheres (HTS) were fabricated via a sol-gel process by coating the hydrolysis product of titanium tetrabutoxide (TBOT) onto the amino (-NH2) modified porous polystyrene cross-linked divinyl benzene (PS-DVB) microspheres under changing atmospheric pressure, followed by calcination in nitrogen and air atmosphere. Particularly, the atmospheric pressure was continuously and regularly changed during the formation process of PS-DVB@TiO2 microspheres. Then the TiO2 particles were absorbed into the pores and onto the surface of PS-DVB as well. The resultant HTS (around 2 pm in diameter) featured a high specific surface area (84.37 m(2)/g), anatase crystal and stable hollow microsphere structure, which led to high photocatalysis activity. The photocatalytic degradation of malachite green (MG) organic dye solution was conducted under ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation, which showed a high photocatalytic ability (81% of MG was degraded after UV irradiation for 88 min). Therefore, it could be potentially applied for the treatment of wastewater contaminated by organic pollutants. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.