Tuning the photocatalytic activity of titanium dioxide by encapsulation inside zeolites exemplified by the cases of thianthrene photooxygenation and horseradish peroxidase photodeactivation

A series of Y, Beta, mordenite and ZSM-5 zeolites containing different amounts of nanosized TiO2 clusters have been prepared by TiO2+ exchange followed by condensation. The presence of TiO2+ and its subsequent oligomerization can be followed in Raman spectroscopy by the appearance of the band at ca. 530 cm−1 and its replacement by others at 394, 460 and 637 nm. X-ray diffractograms of the solids show a considerable intensity decrease as the amount of TiO2 present increases. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) shows that no isolated TiO2 particles are present in the case of zeolite Y, while the sample of mordenite at the highest Ti loading contains isolated TiO2 particles distinguishable by HRTEM. Diffuse reflectance UV-Vis spectroscopy indicates that the bandgap and the apparent extinction coefficient depend remarkably on the Ti content as well as on the zeolite crystal structure. Quantum chemical calculations at the semiempirical level also predict large variations in the HOMO–LUMO energies as a function of the number of Ti atoms. It has been found that the photoactivity of TiO2@Y and TiO2@mordenite is higher than that of commercial anatase for the photooxygenation of thianthrene to thianthrene oxide (λex>200 nm), but smaller for the hoseradish peroxidase photodeactivation in aqueous buffer (λex=350 nm). These variations in the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 illustrate the potential that inclusion of TiO2 nanoclusters within zeolites has to modulate its photoactivity.