Facile synthesis of novel gully-like double-sized mesoporous structural Sr-doped ZrO2–TiO2 composites with improved photocatalytic efficiency.

Abstract Using polystyrene (PS) microspheres as an auxiliary template, a kind of novel gully-like Sr-doped ZrO 2 –TiO 2 composites with the heterogeneous structure were successfully prepared by a simple instant centrifugation with one-step hydrolysis method. The Sr-doped ZrO 2 –TiO 2 composites consisted of the tetragonal phase ZrO 2 , orthogonal phase SrZrO 3 and anatase phase TiO 2 , showing a homogeneous concave and convex shape, similared to the naturally occurring gully terrain in nature, with a double-sized mesoporous structure. The SrZrO 3 was prepared by the synthetic method in this study, which provided a new reference for the subsequent synthesis of SrZrO 3. At the same time, Sr-doped ZrO 2 –TiO 2 composites showed higher photocatalytic activity compared with the monomer and non-strontium-doped TiO 2 -ZrO 2 under multi-mode photocatalytic conditions such as ultraviolet light, visible light, and simulated sunlight. The hydrogen production of Sr-doped ZrO 2 –TiO 2 was 2.9 times and 4.4 times higher than that of TiO 2 –ZrO 2 and TiO 2 , indicating that Sr-doped played a synergistic role in photocatalytic activity experiments. Finally, by the capturing experiment of gully-like Sr-doped ZrO 2 –TiO 2 , it was confirmed that h+,·OH, O 2 •− were active species in the photodegradation of malachite green, and the possible mechanism of the photocatalytic reaction was deduced. Graphical abstract Using polystyrene(PS) microspheres as the template, gully-like Sr-doped ZrO 2 –TiO 2 composite was synthesized by simple instant centrifugation with one-step hydrolysis combined with vacuum and calcination post-processing method, in which gully-like Sr-doped ZrO 2 –TiO 2 exhibited superior photocatalytic degradation efficiency and enhanced activity in splitting water into hydrogen. fx1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]