Mesoporous CuO-TiO2 microspheres for efficient catalytic oxidation of CO and photodegradation of methylene blue

Mesoporous CuO-TiO2 microspheres were synthesized by a simple solution based process. The synthesized products were characterized by XRD, FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, N-2 adsorption -desorption study, FESEM, TEM, XPS and UV vis spectroscopy. The catalytic performances for oxidation of CO and photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) were studied with the synthesized microspheres. For higher concentration of CuO in the microspheres, the T-50 (50% conversion) and T-100 (100% conversion) of CO oxidations were found to be 139 degrees C and 168 degrees C, respectively. For lower concentration of CuO in the microspheres having BET surface area of 67.7 m(2) g(-1) showed the maximum (about 93%) photodegradation of MB.