Synthesis of Mesoporous TiO2/SiO2 Hybrid Films as an Efficient Photocatalyst by Polymeric Micelle Assembly |
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| Authors: | Yunqi Li Dr Bishnu Prasad Bastakoti Dr Masataka Imura Dr Soo Min Hwang Dr Ziqi Sun Prof Jung Ho Kim Prof Shi Xue Dou Prof Yusuke Yamauchi |
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| Institution: | 1. World Premier International (WPI) Research Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), 1‐1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305‐0044 (Japan) http://www.yamauchi‐labo.com;2. Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3‐4‐1 Okubo, Shinjuku, Tokyo 169‐8555 (Japan);3. Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials, University of Wollongong, North Wollongong, New South Wales 2500 (Australia);4. Precursory Research for Embryonic Science and Technology (PRESTO), Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), 4‐1‐8 Honcho, Kawaguchi, Saitama 332‐0012 (Japan) |
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| Abstract: | Thermally stable mesoporous TiO2/SiO2 hybrid films with pore size of 50 nm have been synthesized by adopting the polymeric micelle‐assembly method. A triblock copolymer, poly(styrene‐b‐2‐vinyl pyridine‐b‐ethylene oxide), which serves as a template for the mesopores, was utilized to form polymeric micelles. The effective interaction of titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) and tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) with the polymeric micelles enabled us to fabricate stable mesoporous films. By changing the molar ratio of TEOS and TTIP, several mesoporous TiO2/SiO2 hybrid films with different compositions can be synthesized. The presence of amorphous SiO2 phase effectively retards the growth of anatase TiO2 crystal in the pore walls and retains the original mesoporous structure, even at higher temperature (650 °C). These TiO2/SiO2 hybrid films are of very high quality, without any cracks or voids. The addition of SiO2 phase to mesoporous TiO2 films not only adsorbs more organic dyes, but also significantly enhances the photocatalytic activity compared to mesoporous pure TiO2 film without SiO2 phase. |
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| Keywords: | mesoporous materials micelles photochemistry self‐assembly |
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