Synthesis of Spongelike Mesoporous Anatase and its Photocatalytic Properties

Mesoporous tio2 has been prepared using a nonionic block copolymer (pluronic p-123)as structure-directing agent with sol-gel method. characterization of the product was carried out bymeans of x-ray diffraction (xrd), scanning electron microscopy (sem), thermogravimetrydifferentialscanning calorimetry (tg-dsc), nitrogen sorption isotherms, and uv-vis absorptionspectroscopy. these analyses showed that under controlled synthesis conditions, a wormlikemesostructured tio2 with high surface area (110 m2g-1) and appropriated band gap (~3 ev)is obtained. moreover, the pore walls of the nanostructured tio2 solid are formed by incipientcrystallites of anatase, which is a significant achievement regarding its possible photocatalyticapplications. the activity of the prepared photocatalyst was evaluated by degradation of congo redazo dye. it has excellent photocatalytic efficiencies and more than 76% dye was decolorized in 90 minute.