TiO2/carboxylate-rich porous carbon: A highly efficient visible-light-driven photocatalyst based on the ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT) process

A novel visible-light-driven photocatalyst based on TiO2/carboxylate-rich porous carbon composite (TiO2/CRPC) was successfully synthesized by low temperature carbonization process in air. Sodium gluconate plays a crucial role in the formation of TiO2/CRPC. Different functional groups of sodium gluconate play synergetic roles in the formation of TiO2/CRPC. XRD and Raman spectra studies indicated that there are two different TiO2 crystalline phases existing in TiO2/CRPC, which are anatase and brookite, and the CRPC is amorphous. Via FT-IR and XPS spectra investigations, it was demonstrated that carboxylate group, the ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT) forming functional group, was solidified into the CRPC and form the LMCT complex on TiO2 surface through the fabrication of TiO2/CRPC. Compared with the pure TiO2, TiO2/CRPC exhibit enhanced absorption in the UV and visible light region around 260-600 nm. The strong absorption in the visible light region gives TiO2/CRPC advantages over pure TiO2 for the degradation of organic pollutants. TiO2/CRPC can activate O-2 in air under mild conditions and exhibit excellent visible-light-driven photocatalytic activities. However, TiO2/C composite obtained by using glucose instead of sodium gluconate exhibits poor photocatalytic activity, which demonstrated that carboxylate-TiO2 complexes are responsible for the prominent photocatalytic properties of TiO2/CRPC under visible light irradiation. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.