Title: A Unique Disintegration–Reassembly Route to Mesoporous Titania Nanocrystalline Hollow Spheres with Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity

Abstract

Abstract A novel disintegration–reassembly route is reported for the synthesis of mesoporous TiO ₂ nanocrystalline hollow spheres with controlled crystallinity and enhanced photocatalytic activity. In this unique synthesis strategy, it is demonstrated that sol–gel‐derived mesoporous TiO ₂ colloidal spheres can be disintegrated into discrete small nanoparticles that are uniformly embedded in the polymer (polystyrene, PS) matrix by surface‐induced photocatalytic polymerization. Subsequent reassembly of these TiO ₂ nanoparticles can be induced by an annealing process after further coating of a resorcinol–formaldehyde (RF) resin, which forms self‐supported hollow spheres of TiO ₂ at the PS/RF interface. The abundant phenolic groups on the RF resin serve as anchoring sites for the TiO ₂ nanoparticles, thus enable the reassembly of the TiO ₂ nanoparticles and prevent their sintering during the thermal crystallization process. This unique disintegration–reassembly process leads to the formation of self‐supported TiO ₂ hollow spheres with relatively large surface area, high crystallinity, and superior photocatalytic activity in dye degradation under UV light irradiation.

Authors:

Wang, Xin ^[1]; Bai, Licheng ^[2]; Liu, Hongyan ^[3]; Yu, Xuefeng ^[4]; Yin, Yadong  ^[3];

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• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0003-0218-3042"

Gao, Chuanbo ^[2]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Center for Materials Chemistry Frontier Institute of Science and Technology and State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering Xi'an Jiaotong University Xi'an Shaanxi 710054 China, Department of Chemistry University of California Riverside CA 92521 USA, Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology Chinese Academy of Science Shenzhen 518055 China
2. Center for Materials Chemistry Frontier Institute of Science and Technology and State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering Xi'an Jiaotong University Xi'an Shaanxi 710054 China
3. Department of Chemistry University of California Riverside CA 92521 USA
4. Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology Chinese Academy of Science Shenzhen 518055 China

Publication Date:

Fri Nov 17 00:00:00 EST 2017

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE

OSTI Identifier:

1409713

Grant/Contract Number:  

DE‐SC0002247

Resource Type:

Publisher's Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Advanced Functional Materials

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Name: Advanced Functional Materials Journal Volume: 28 Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 1616-301X

Publisher:

Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)

Country of Publication:

Germany

Language:

English