Preparation of 3D ordered mesoporous anatase TiO2 and their photocatalytic activity

Ordered crystalline mesoporous anatase titanium dioxides with different amounts of rutile were prepared by hard-template approaches using mesoporous silica (KIT-6) as the template. The resulting mesoporous materials were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM), N-2 adsorption and Raman spectroscopy. All mesoporous TiO2 has three-dimensional (3D) ordered mesostructures with large Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area and narrow pore size distribution (ca. 5nm). It was found that the level of rutile phase in the mesoporous titanium oxide was related to the SO42- concentration in the starting materials. Their photocatalytic hydrogen production was evaluated and compared. It is found that low rutile content is beneficial for a high catalytic activity. All samples demonstrate a better activity than commercial P25.