Optimizational Preparation and Mesoporous Material Characteristics of a Novel Biomimetic Photocatalyst and Its Application to the Photocatalytic Degradation of Phenol

Hexagonal mesoporous silica (HMS) was synthesized using dodecylamine (DDA) or octadecylamine (ODA) as templates which were then removed by calcination or extraction. Characterization data of HMS from XRD and N-2 adsorption-desorption proved that the optimized material were typical mesoporous materials based on the facts that the XRD diffraction peak displayed apparently the feature of mesoporous materials and the N-2 adsorption-desorption curve was typical of a type IV isotherm and contained a type H1 desorption hysteresis loop. These novel photocatalysts had a BET surface area of 675.1 m(2).g(-1), an average pore diameter of 5.78 nm and a BJH pore volume of 0.587 cm(3).g(-1), and were prepared by the F-C reaction between functionalized HMS and iron sulfophthalocyanine (FePcS). Additionally, the catalysts preserved an undamaged heavy mesoporous structure. Upon the irradiation of the simulated visible light, these novel catalysts were applied to the degradation of simulated phenol wastewater at a concentration of 1000 mg.L-1. The conversion of phenol reached 85% and the pH decreased from the original 4.52 to 2.65 after reaction time of 400 min, which indicated that acid intermediates were produced during the photocatalysis of phenol. Finally, the conversion rate of phenol was nearly 100% and the total organic carbon (TOC) removal rate exceeded 81%. The novel catalyst is, therefore, highly effective for the degradation of phenol.