Silica Supported Mesoporous Titania: A Green Catalyst for Removing Environmental Pollutants and Generating Green Energy

Abstract:

Titania (TiO₂) is one of the most unique catalysts, crucially important in photo-green chemistry. The mesoporous TiO₂ has large surface area, uniform pore size and open frameworks for the transfer of mass and charges. TiO₂ has photocatalytic activity which can degrade both organic and inorganic compounds. The band gap energy of TiO₂ can be modified by doping various metal oxides to make it tunable for application in solar cells. Various catalytic metals such as Au, Pt and Pd can be synthesized on TiO₂ surface to enlarge its application in various catalytic molecular transformations. Thus TiO₂ has promising application in the production of the renewable energy, degradation of environmentally hazardous components, generation of solar cells and sensors. A large number of efforts have been made to synthesize mesoporous TiO₂ materials with high surface area and uniform pore size. However, they were not cost effective for applications in environment and green energy generation. The photocatalytic actions of TiO₂ can further kill or transform harmful microorganisms into harmless or less harmful ones. This paper reviewed synthesis methodology of silica supported mesoporous TiO₂ and their applications in environmental photocatalysis and solar cells.

• Periodical: Advanced Materials Research (Volume 925)
• Pages: 694-698
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.925.694
• Online since: April 2014
• Authors: Sharifah Bee Abd Hamid*, S.M. Azad Hossain, Md Eaqub Ali
• Keywords: Hollow Silica, Mesoporous Titania, Renewable Energy, Solar Cell, TiO₂ Photocatalysis

References

[1] A. Fujishima, K. Honda, Electrochemical photolysis of water at a semiconductor electrode, Nature 238 (1972) 37-38.

DOI: 10.1038/238037a0

[2] O. Khaselev, J.A. Turner, A monolithic photovoltaic- photoelectrochemical device for hydrogen production via water splitting, Science 280 (1998) 425-427.

DOI: 10.1126/science.280.5362.425

[3] M. Ashokkumar, An overview on semiconductor particulate systems for photoproduction of hydrogen, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 23 (1998) 427-438.

DOI: 10.1016/s0360-3199(97)00103-1

[4] C.T. Kresge, M.E. Leonowicz, W.J. Roth, J.C. Vartuli, J.S. Beck, Ordered mesoporous molecular sieves synthesized by a liquid-crystal template mechanism, Nature 359 (1992) 710-712.

DOI: 10.1038/359710a0

[5] R. Ryoo, S.H. Joo, S. Jun, Synthesis of highly ordered carbon molecular sieves via template-mediated structural transformation, J. Phys. Chem. B 103 (1999) 7743-7746.

DOI: 10.1021/jp991673a

[6] Q.S. Huo, D.I. Margolese, U. Ciesla, P.Y. Feng, T.E. Gier, P. Sieger, R. Leon, P.M. Petroff, F. Schuth, G.D. Stucky, Generalized synthesis of periodic surfactant/inorganic composite materials, Nature 368 (1994) 317-321.

DOI: 10.1038/368317a0

[7] M. Ni, M.K.H. Leung, D.Y.C. Leung, K. Sumathy, A review and recent developments in photocatalytic water-splitting using TiO2 for hydrogen production, Renew. Sust. Energ. Rev. 11 (2007) 401-425.

DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2005.01.009

[8] ] O.M. Alfano, D. Bahnemann, A.E. Cassano, R. Dillert, R. Goslich, Photocatalysis in water environments using artificial and solar light, Catal. Today 58 (2000) 199-230.

DOI: 10.1016/s0920-5861(00)00252-2

[9] D.M. Antonelli, J.Y. Ying, Synthesis of hexagonally packed mesoporous TiO2 by a modified sol–gel method, Angew. Chem. -Int. Ed. Engl. 34 (1995) 2014-(2017).

DOI: 10.1002/anie.199520141

[10] D.M. Antonelli, Synthesis of phosphorous-free mesoporous titania via templating with amine surfactants, Micropor. Mesopor. Mater. 30 (1999) 315-319.

DOI: 10.1016/s1387-1811(99)00042-6

[11] D.T. On, A Simple Route for the Synthesis of mesostructured lamellar and hexagonal phosphorus-free titania (TiO2), Langmuir 15 (1999) 8561-8564.

DOI: 10.1021/la9905463

[12] C.J. Brinker, Y.F. Lu, A. Sellinger, H.Y. Fan, Evaporation-induced self-assembly: nanostructures made easy, Adv. Mater. 11 (1999) 579.

DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1521-4095(199905)11:7<579::aid-adma579>3.0.co;2-r

[13] B.Z. Tian, H.F. Yang, X.Y. Liu, S.H. Xie, C.Z. Yu, J. Fan, B. Tu, D.Y. Zhao, Fast preparation of highly ordered nonsiliceous mesoporous materials via mixed inorganic precursors , Chem. Commun. (2002) 1824-1825.

DOI: 10.1039/b205006d

[14] G. Soler-Illia, A. Louis, C. Sanchez, Synthesis and characterization of mesostructured titania-based materials through evaporation-induced self-assembly, Chem. Mater. 14 (2002)750-759.

DOI: 10.1021/cm011217a

[15] A. Khanal, Y. Inoue, M. Yada, and K. Nakashima, Synthesis of silica hollow nanoparticles templated by polymeric micelle with core−shell−corona structure, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 129 (2007) 1534-1535.

DOI: 10.1021/ja0684904

[16] R. Zhang, A. A. Elzatahry, S. S. Al-Deyab, D. Zhao, Mesoporous titania: from synthesis to application, Nano Today 7(2012) , 344-366.

DOI: 10.1016/j.nantod.2012.06.012

[17] M. Gratzel, The advent of mesoscopic injection solar cells , Prog. Photovoltaics 14 (2006) 429-442.

DOI: 10.1002/pip.712