Dendritic mesoporous silica–titania nanospheres with enhanced photocatalytic activities

Abstract

A series of dendritic mesoporous silica–titania nanospheres (DMSTN) with tunable Ti/Si molar ratios (φ = 0, 0.04, 0.13, and 0.4) has been successfully prepared through a post-treatment method. These materials possess high surface areas (450–550 m² g⁻¹), large pore volumes (0.9–1.04 cm³ g⁻¹) and radially oriented mesopores (9.35–10.35 nm). The photodegradation of methylene green (an organic dye) was tested using DMSTN and a commercial photocatalyst (TiO2 Degussa P25) for comparative purposes. DMSTN exhibit excellent photocatalytic performance including higher adsorption capacity and better photocatalytic degradation performance compared to P25.