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Synthesis and characterization of mesoporous Bi/TiO2 nanoparticles with high photocatalytic activity under visible light

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Abstract

Under the strategies of doping to extend the absorptive response region of a semiconductor and fabricating a mesoporous structure with large specific surface area to enhance the photocatalytic property, an efficient visible-light-driven photocatalyst of bismuth-doped titanium dioxide (Bi/TiO2) was prepared via a facile sol-gel route. The resulting materials were characterized by powder x-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TG), UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectrum (DRS), and N2 adsorption–desorption measurements (BET). The photocatalytic performances of as-synthesized particles were monitored by degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) in transparent aqueous solutions under visible light illumination. The results revealed that mesoporous PEG-modified Bi-doped TiO2 exhibited much higher photocatalytic activities than Bi-doped TiO2 without modification, and noticeably the optimized doping level was increased from 2 to 4 mol%. The visible-light photocatalytic activity enhancement of PEG-modified Bi-doped TiO2 could be attributed to appropriate proportional mixed crystal phase, large surface area, porosity, mesoporous network with interconnected small nanocrystals, and its strong absorption in the visible region.

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Acknowledgment

The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the South China Normal University for financing this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Environment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510006, China

    Ximiao Zhu, Zhang Liu, Jianzhang Fang, Shuxing Wu & WeiCheng Xu

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  1. Ximiao Zhu
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  2. Zhang Liu
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  3. Jianzhang Fang
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  4. Shuxing Wu
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Correspondence to Jianzhang Fang.

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Zhu, X., Liu, Z., Fang, J. et al. Synthesis and characterization of mesoporous Bi/TiO2 nanoparticles with high photocatalytic activity under visible light. Journal of Materials Research 28, 1334–1342 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2013.92

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