Efficient fabrication of ZrO2-doped TiO2 hollow nanospheres with enhanced photocatalytic activity of rhodamine B degradation

ZrO(2)-doped TiO(2) hollow nanospheres with anatase phase are efficiently fabricated via functionalized negatively charged polystyrene (PS) spheres without any surfactant or polyelectrolyte. The resulting Ti(1-)(x)Zr(x)O(2) (hereafter denoted as TZ) hollow nanospheres are characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Laser Raman spectroscopy (LRS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), nitrogen sorption, and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis). The Zr(4+) incorporation decreases the anatase crystallite size, increases the specific surface area, and changes the pore size distribution. Furthermore, it induces enrichment of electron charge density around Ti(4+) ions and blueshift of absorption edges. The TZ hollow nanospheres doped with moderate ZrO(2) (molar ratio, Ti:Zr=10:1) exhibit better photocatalytic activity than the other samples for the degradation of rhodamine B in aqueous solution, which is correlated with the effect of Zr(4+) doping on the physicochemical properties in terms of surface structures, phase structures, and the electronic structures.