Removal of bisphenol A on hydrophobic TiO2/mesoporous silica core/shell photocatalyst

• Published in: Reaction kinetics, mechanisms and catalysis mechanisms and catalysis, 2016-12, Vol.119 (2), p.715-725
• Main Authors: Luo, Li-Jun, Zhou, Qiang, Li, Han, Bian, Long-Chun, Jiang, Feng-Zhi, Pan, Xue-Jun, Wang, Min, Wang, Hong-Bin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Catalysis; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Physical Chemistry
• ISSN: 1878-5190; 1878-5204
• DOI: 10.1007/s11144-016-1075-9

TiO 2 /phenyl group functionalized mesoporous silica photocatalysts (denoted as TiO 2 /Ph-MS) were synthesized via the sol–gel method. The prepared catalysts were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffractometry (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), nitrogen adsorption/desorption and X-ray fluorescence (XRF). The results indicated that the TiO 2 /Ph-MS photocatalyst was composed of the TiO 2 particle core (around 20–30 nm) and a shell layer of phenol group functionalized mesoporous silica with a thickness of about 2.5 nm, which contained as much as 63.0 wt% TiO 2 . The TiO 2 /Ph-MS composite was applied to remove BPA by adsorption and photocatalytic degradation. The results indicated that the introduced phenyl group was hydrophobic and has strong adsorption ability for BPA. The adsorption removal ratio of BPA over the TiO 2 /Ph-MS (8.4 %) was much higher than that over TiO 2 /MS (0.4 %), and the photocatalytic degradation removal ratios of BPA on TiO 2 /Ph-MS (20.24 %) was higher than that over TiO 2 /MS (14.36 %). The enhanced photocatalytic degradation removal rate of BPA over TiO 2 /Ph-MS could be attributed to increasing adsorption ability for BPA on the surface of TiO 2 /Ph-MS.