A facile synthesis of flower-shaped TiO2/Ag microspheres and their application in photocatalysts

Abstract

Flower-shaped microspheres (FSMPs) TiO₂ were successfully prepared using a sol-hydrothermal technique. A facile tyrosine-reducing method was adopted to reduce the Ag precursor to Ag nanoparticles (NPs) on the surface of the as-prepared TiO₂ FSMPs. The morphology, structure and photocatalytic activity in the degradation of methylene blue (MB) of TiO₂/Ag FSMPs were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results show that the photocatalytic activity of the TiO₂/Ag FSMPs is superior to that of TiO₂ FSMPs and P25, which is attributed to the unique flower-shaped morphology with high surface area, the increased light absorption, and the reduction of photoelectron–hole pair recombination in TiO₂ with the introduction of Ag NPs.