Synthesis and Characterization of Phosphated Mesoporous Titanium Dioxide with High Photocatalytic Activity

A surfactant-templated approach was used to synthesize phosphated mesoporous titanium dioxide by incorporating phosphorus from phosphoric acid directly into the framework of TiO 2 . The resulting materials were characterized by XRD, nitrogen adsorption, TEM, XPS analysis, UV−vis spectroscopy, FT-IR spectroscopy, and isoelectric point measurements. The surface area of phosphated mesoporous TiO 2 exceeded 300 m 2 /g after calcination at 400 °C. It was found that the incorporation of phosphorus could stabilize the TiO 2 framework and increase the surface area significantly. This stabilization is attributed to two reasons: the more complete condensation of surface Ti−OH in the as-prepared sample and the inhibition of grain growth of the embedded anatase TiO 2 by the interspersed amorphous titanium phosphate matrix during thermal treatment. Both pure and phosphated mesoporous TiO 2 show significant activities on the oxidation of n -pentane. The higher photocatalytic activity of phosphated mesoporous TiO 2 can be explained by the extended band gap energy, large surface area, and the existence of Ti ions in a tetrahedral coordination.