Controllable synthesis and formation mechanism of 3D flower-like TiO 2 microspheres
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Controllable synthesis and formation mechanism of 3D flower-like TiO2 microspheres Chaoyang Hu1 · Lei E1 · Dan Zhao1 · Kangkai Hu1 · Jin Cui1 · Qiumin Xiong1 · Zhifeng Liu1 Received: 28 January 2018 / Accepted: 10 April 2018 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018
Abstract The high recombination rate of electrons and holes has been one of the important reasons for limiting photocatalytic efficiency. In order to improve the photocatalytic performance, the reduction of the recombination probability can be achieved by regulating the morphology of the microspheres. 3D flower-like TiO2 microspheres were successfully prepared by a one-step hydrothermal method using tetrabutyl titanate (TBT) as titanium source, glacial acetic acid (HAc) as solvent and 2 adsorption–desorption isotherm for structure capping agent. The T iO2 microspheres were analyzed by XRD, SEM, and N and morphology characterization. The results show that the samples were self-assembled by nanosheets to form the anatase TiO2 microspheres with mesoporous structure and the surface area of TiO2 can reach 356 m2/g. As the heat treatment temperature increases, the nanosheets were destroyed. The methylene orange (MO) was degraded 99% in 2 h, and the catalyst could be reused many times over. The formation mechanism of flower-like T iO2 microspheres was discussed in detail based on the above investigations.
1 Introduction Recently, TiO2 with a single morphology and structure, such as tubular [1, 2], spherical [3–5] and flaky [6–8], has been widely researched. However, the limitation of above TiO2 is the lower efficiency of electron transmission and optical absorption. Since Kuroda and Chuzo [9] first succeeded in synthesizing mesoporous SiO2 in 1990, and then Antonelli and Ying [10] synthesized mesoporous TiO2 by sol–gel method in 1995, the mesoporous photocatalytic materials have been beginning to receive more attention. Since Zhang et al. [11] found that the porous T iO2 microspheres could effectively utilize the absorbed light to improve the photocatalytic activity, the research focus has been shifted to the preparation and synthesis of TiO2 with 3D hierarchical structure. Liao et al. [12] and Jiang et al. [13] have prepared hierarchical TiO2 microspheres composed of the nanorods, effectively promoted the transmission of electrons, improved the photocatalytic performance and photoelectric conversion efficiency. In order to improve the photoelectric conversion * Lei E [email protected] 1
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin Chengjian University, Tianjin 300384, People’s Republic of China
performance of DSSC, hierarchical 3D TiO2 was used as the light scattering layer of DSSC, which improve the absorption and utilization of light and reduce the recombination of electron–hole pairs [5, 14–16]. Thus, T iO2 materials with 3D structure have been widely used in solar hydrogen production [17, 18], the degradation of organic [19–22], dyesensitized solar cells [23, 24] and Li-ion battery [25–27]. How
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