Sol-gel Preparation of Photocatalytic Sm2Ti2O7/HZSM-5 Composite on Degradation of Reactive Brilliant Red X-3B

Abstract

Sm2Ti2O7 was loaded on the surface of HZSM-5 zeolite through a sol-gel route. HZSM-5 particles were coated with a thick layer of Sm2Ti2O7 to form the composite. It was found that crystallization of pyrochlore phase Sm2Ti2O7 begins at 800 °C. Continuous enlargement in Sm2Ti2O7 crystallite size and cell volume are accompanied with the increase of calcination temperature. The bandgap energy of the samples calcined at temperature ranging from 600 to 1000 °C was found to be around 3.4 eV. BET specific surface area and pore volume of the materials continuously decreased with rising calcination temperature. The 70 % Sm2Ti2O7/HZSM-5 calcined at 800 °C was found to have the greatest photocatalytic activity on RBR X-3B degradation.