Regenerated cellulose membrane as bio-template for in-situ growth of visible-light driven C-modified mesoporous titania.

Visible light driven C-doped mesoporous TiO 2 (C-MTiO 2 ) nanorods have been successfully synthesized through green, low cost, and facile approach by sol-gel bio-templating method using regenerated cellulose membrane (RCM) as nanoreactor. In this study, RCM was also responsible to provide in-situ carbon sources for resultant C-MTiO 2 nanorods in acidified sol at low temperatures. The composition, crystallinity, surface area, morphological structure, and optical properties of C-MTiO 2 nanorods, respectively, had been characterized using FTIR, XRD, N 2 adsorption/desorption, TEM, UV–vis-NIR, and XPS spectroscopy. The results suggested that the growth of C-MTiO 2 nanorods was promoted by the strong interaction between the hydroxyl groups of RCMs and titanium ion. Optical and XPS analysis confirmed that carbon presence in TiO 2 nanorods were responsible for band-gap narrowing, which improved the visible light absorption capability. Photocatalytic activity measurements exhibited the capability of C-MTiO 2 nanorods in degradation of methyl orange in aqueous solution, with 96.6% degradation percentage under visible light irradiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]