A facile synthesis of hollow TiO2 photocatalyst with high amount of carbon exhibiting efficient visible-light photocatalytic performance

ABSTRACTA facile approach was developed for the synthesis of hollow TiO2 photocatalyst with a high amount of carbon (C/TiO2). The method mainly includes the following steps: the preparation of cationic polystyrene spheres (CPSs), deposition of TiO2 precursor, and the pyrolysis of CPS in an N2 atmosphere at 450 °C (close system). The structure and morphology of C/N-TiO2 were characterized by using TEM, XRD, XPS, and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The results confirm that the carbon is coated on the surface of the photocatalysts, substantially enhancing the visible-light harvesting and accelerating the separation of the photo-generated electrons/holes. Interestingly, the formed C/TiO2 effectively narrows the bandgap of TiO2, manifesting excellent photocatalytic activities for degradation of MB and Rh B under visible-light irradiation than commercial P25. Therefore, our findings demonstrate that C/TiO2 is a more promising candidate as visible-light photocatalysts for potential applications.