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Biotemplated hierarchical TiO2–SiO2 composites derived from Zea mays Linn. for efficient dye photodegradation

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Abstract

Five typical silicon-accumulating tissues (including leaves, roots, stalks, silks, and husks) of corn plant (Zea mays Linn.), for the first time, were applied as both structure-directors and silicon-precursors to synthesize biomorphic hierarchical porous TiO2–SiO2 composites. By combination of an effective microwave-assisted HCl pretreatment and a simple in situ growth, the hierarchical porous architectures of corn tissues and silicon bodies were inherited into the obtained TiO2 frameworks, which led to both of the structure- and SiO2-introduced enhancements of photocatalytic performances. UV–visible absorption spectra indicate that all TiO2–SiO2 prepared as above exhibit enhanced visible-light harvesting efficiencies, especially in the range from 400 to 750 nm. Moreover, N2 sorption measurements show that biotemplated composite derived from corn leaves has 2.5 times higher specific surface area than that of the commercial P25. Using methylene blue as the target pollutant, all biomorphic TiO2–SiO2 were proved to possess strong adsorption abilities and enhanced photocatalytic activities. The present work may provide a new route for the fabrication of hierarchical porous silicon-based materials based on silica-rich plants and develop a new method to protect the natural environment by utilizing waste biomass.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the financial support from the Key Projects in the National Science and Technology Pillar Program (No. 2009BADA6B00), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31071423) and the Major Research Plan of Anhui Agriculture University Principal Youth Fund (No. 2011ZD013). We thank Prof. Han-Qing Yu, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, for helpful discussions and suggestions to the manuscript, and Prof. Zheng-Yan Wu, Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, for editorial assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Biomass Improvement and Conversion, School of Life Science, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, 230036, People’s Republic of China

    Huan Ma, Su-Wen Zhu, Qing Ma & Bei-Jiu Cheng

  2. School of Engineering, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, 230036, People’s Republic of China

    Wei-Wei Liu

  3. School of Material Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, People’s Republic of China

    Yun-Shan Fan

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  1. Huan Ma
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  2. Wei-Wei Liu
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  4. Qing Ma
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Correspondence to Bei-Jiu Cheng.

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Ma, H., Liu, WW., Zhu, SW. et al. Biotemplated hierarchical TiO2–SiO2 composites derived from Zea mays Linn. for efficient dye photodegradation. J Porous Mater 20, 1205–1215 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10934-013-9704-4

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