Carboxyl-modified hierarchical wrinkled mesoporous silica supported TiO2 nanocomposite particles with excellent photocatalytic performances

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a common photocatalyst for organic pollutants degradation. However, in practical application, the poor adsorption capacity of pure TiO2 seriously impeded its efficiency in the degradation of organic molecules. In this work, a series of hierarchical wrinkle mesoporous silica supported TiO2 nano-composite particles (TiO2 @WMS-COOH) were successfully prepared. Thanks to their high surface areas, large pore volumes and mesoporous structures, these materials showed high adsorption capacity and excellent photocatalytic performance towards dye molecules, which is comparable to or even better than commercial catalyst P25. Moreover, their photocatalytic efficiency can be further enhanced by increasing the calcination temperature during preparation process. Therefore it can be concluded that the TiO2 @WMS-COOH particles may find promising applications in the photodegradation of organic pollutants. Keywords: Hierarchical wrinkled mesoporous silica, Titanium dioxide, Photocatalytic performance, Organic pollutants