A study on the preparation of floating photocatalyst supported by hollow TiO2 and its performance.

This research used hollow glass microspheres (HGMS) as carrier and polystyrene (PSt) as template. PSt was loaded on HGMS surface through the modification by silane coupler. Next, amorphous titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) produced through tetrabutyl titanate (TBT) hydrolysis precipitated on PSt surface, forming HGMS/PSt/TiO 2 particles. Lastly, using the calcinations method, this research obtained anatase TiO 2 , eliminated PSt, and ultimately acquired composite particles with hollow TiO 2 loaded on HGMS surface (HGMSHT). SEM results presented that hollow TiO 2 was compact on HGMS surface and a multilayer network structure was formed. The specific surface area of HGMSHT particles was 26 m 2 /g, which was much larger than that of HGMS/TiO 2 (HGMST) composite particles (5.6 m 2 /g) through direct TBT hydrolysis. Results of catalytic degradation experiment with Rhodamine B and phenol under UV light and sunlight demonstrated that due to larger TiO 2 load capacity and specific surface area, the catalytic activity of HGMSHT composite particles was significantly more desirable than that of HGMST, and the catalyst presented satisfactory stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]