A Mesoporous Lead-Doped Titanium Oxide Compound with High Performance and Recyclability in I 2 Uptake and Photocatalysis.

A three-dimensional (3D) mesoporous material with an atomically precise structure, Ti 16 Pb 5 O 16 (C 6 H 5 CO 2 ) 2 (OCH 3 ) 40 ( Ti 16 Pb 5 ), comprised of a novel high-nuclearity Pb-doped titanium oxide cluster (TOC), was synthesized. Ti 16 Pb 5 exhibited a surface area of 45 m 2 g -1 and a pore diameter of 3.5 nm. It exhibited an uptake capacity of I 2 of ≤2.2 g g -1 in vapor, and the performance was maintained after seven uptake-release cycles. Ti 16 Pb 5 also showed a high adsorption ratio and capacity (93% and 3.1 g g -1 ) in hexane. The characterization data, including Fourier transform infrared, Raman, and powder X-ray diffraction, suggested the lattice structure of Ti 16 Pb 5 was rigid and I 2 was accommodated in the pores of Ti 16 Pb 5 . To the best of our knowledge, this is the first example of using a TOC in I 2 adsorption. In addition, Ti 16 Pb 5 showed excellent activity and recyclability in visible-light degradation of dye pollutants and photocurrent generation. Our structural analysis suggested the alkoxide ligands within the channels of Ti 16 Pb 5 build up a confined polar environment and thereby facilitate I 2 accommodation, and meanwhile, the improved performances and stabilities of Ti 16 Pb 5 are correlated with its cluster-based, 3D hierarchical structure.