Preparation and photocatalytic activity of TiO2-SiO2 binary aerogels

Abstract

The preparation, characterization and photocatalytic degradation of phenol pollutant of TiO₂-SiO₂ aerogels were investigated. The aerogels were mostly turned to anatase microcrystalline after supercritical drying in ethanol. Photocatalytic degradation of phenol in water on aerogels shows that the binary aerogels have high efficiency than the commercial TiO₂ and pure TiO₂ aerogel. The photocatalytic activity of the aerogels increased with the SiO₂ content at first but came to a maximum at molar ratio = 1:1.