In situ synthesis of carbon doped TiO2 nanotubes with an enhanced photocatalytic performance under UV and visible light.

Titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) has been widely investigated as a photocatalytic material. However, the photocatalytic activity of TiO 2 is suppressed by the large band gap and the recombination rate of the electron-hole pairs. Here, we propose an in situ synthetic strategy for the construct of carbon doped TiO 2 (carbon-TiO 2 ) nanotubes using surface-sulfonated layer of polystyrene fibers/titania composites as the precursors of TiO 2 and carbon source via a facile route of calcination. This technique involves the preparation of morphology well controlled polystyrene fibers, sulfonation of PS fibers, sol-gel synthetic process of TiO 2 and the pyrolysis of SSPS fibers in a N 2 atmosphere at 450 °C. The morphology and structure of as-prepared carbon-TiO 2 nanotubes are mainly characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD, Raman spectroscopy, XPS and UV–vis spectroscopy. All results confirm the carbon doping in the as-prepared carbon-TiO 2 nanotubes. As a result of the unique microstructure, this composite exhibits remarkable photocatalytic efficiency for the degradation of unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine under visible light irradiation, indicating great potential for dealing with waste water containing organic pollutant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]