Simple route to monodispersed silica - Titania core - Shell photocatalysts

A monodispersed silica-titania core-shell photocatalyst was synthesized via a sol-gel route without the need of pH adjustment, cationic polyelectrolytes, or surfactants in a process where silica spheres were impregnated with hydrolyzed titanium tetrabutoxide, incubated at room temperature, and then condensed using an ethanol/water (1:1) solvent. Four coating cycles in a 10% v/v titania sol produced homogeneous titania shells. The quality of catalysts was assessed quantitatively using Rietveld analysis of powder X-ray diffraction patterns combined with X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. During calcination, the anatase-to-rutile transformation was delayed to 1000°C, which is ∼300°C higher than usually observed. The thermal stability and surface area of titania were enhanced through the slow crystal growth of anatase. The photocatalytic activity of the core-shell photocatalysts calcined at 400-600°C was found to be proportional to the thickness of titania but did not directly correlate with the surface area.