Phosphate-assisted one-pot synthesis of zirconium phosphate-containing mesoporous silica with unique photodegradation ability for rhodamine B

Abstract

A facile one-pot method for zirconium phosphate-containing mesoporous silica (ZrP–MS) using sodium silicate and zirconium oxychloride was reported under acidic P123 aqueous solution followed by an aid of phosphate. The obtained ZrP–MS material is a new type of mesoporous silica composite, which had a structure similar to SBA-15 but with larger mean pore diameter. Zirconium phosphate was uniformly distributed in the silica, and it was found to be a unique photocatalyst for the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) by comparison with ZrP–MS, silver-activated ZrP–MS and silver phosphate–mesoporous silica composites on degradation of RhB and methyl orange, in which the reaction kinetics, luminescence properties of the final products of RhB degradation, fluorescence of ZrP–MS-adsorbed RhB, and free radical capture experiment were performed. The formation and photodegradation mechanism of ZrP–MS are discussed.