Synthesis of well-ordered mesoporous titania with tunable phase content and high photoactivity

Using TiCl4 and Ti(OBu)(4) as the precursors and Pluronic P123 as the template, mesoporous titanium dioxide (TiO2) is successfully prepared by the nonhydrolytic evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) method with a three-dimensional mesostructure obtained. X-ray powder diffraction patterns (XRD) show that the pore wall is composed of both anatase and rutile phases. Transmission electron micrograph observations (TEM) reveal a well-ordered open-pore mesostructure. N-2 adsorption analysis exhibits a narrow pore size distribution. Photodegradation of phenol shows that the sample has a better photoactivity than Degussa P25. Further investigations on the effect of the "acid-base pair" find that by changing the molar ratio of TiCl4/Ti(OBu)(4), both the pore texture and phase composition can be well-controlled. A high content of TiCl4 is considered to favor the formation of regular mesostructures and a proper weight ratio of anatase/rutile as well, which can finally affect the photocatalytic efficiency of the sample.