Biomorphic porous TiO2 with wood template size scaling for improved adsorption and photocatalysis performance

Abstract

Biomorphic TiO 2 photocatalysts with hierarchical porous structures by templating with different size scales of wood processing residues (lignocellulose, wood our, and solid wood as biological templates) through a simple sol-gel method is proposed for photocatalytic degradation applications. Compared with templatefree TiO 2 , the biomorphic TiO 2 had a good adsorption capacity and photocatalytic performance with methylene blue (MB) and phenol. The lignocellulose-templated TiO 2 reached adsorption equilibrium within 60 min because of the hierarchical structure of the complex interlaced wood. It exhibited 98.9% and 84.3% degradation of MB and phenol within 60 min under visible light conditions. The multiscale structure of the wood templates enhanced light absorption and mass transfer e ciency due to the presence of additional surface hydroxyl groups and a reduced bandgap. This research proposes a convenient synthesis method to obtain biomorphic TiO 2 using wood residues, and construct the physical-chemical interaction between wood and TiO 2 to enhance visible light response and transfer of photogenerated charge carriers.

Tailoring visible-light active TiO2/cellulose nanocomposites with controlled crystalline structure for enhanced photocatalytic performance

“…Various materials such as biomass 14 , polymer 15 , glass fiber 16 , wood 17 and cellulose 18 were used as supporting material of nanoparticles. Among supporting materials, cellulose is widely used due to its abundance, low cost and high hydroxyl content.…”