KIT-6 induced mesostructured TiO2 for photocatalytic degradation of methyl blue.

In this study, titania/silica nanocomposite and mesoporous TiO2 (m-TiO2) photocatalysts are developed by KIT-6 template via a sol-gel approach. The synthesized photocatalysts are characterized by XRD, EDX, SEM, Raman, PL, and UV-vis DRS analysis techniques. The as-synthesized series revealed a high surface area, smaller size, a greater number of accessible active sites, and enhanced light-harvesting capability. The m-TiO2 photocatalysts' charge recombination capability was curiously inferior to the rest of as-synthesized TiO2/KIT-6 nanocomposite materials. The band-gap of as-synthesized materials were suitable for their activity in UV light irradiations. It was pragmatic that the photocatalytic degradation efficiency of m-TiO2 photocatalysts was superior as compared to that of commercial TiO2 photocatalyst under UV light irradiations, owing to the synergistic outcome of the anatase phase and a greater number of accessible active-sites availability as a result of high surface area. Moreover, the m-TiO2 was critically evaluated by investigating various parameters affecting the photocatalytic degradation reaction of MB including the effect of irradiation time, pH, catalyst dosage, and dye concentration. The m-TiO2, 45wt% composite material and commercial-TiO2 exhibited 99.27, 91.20, and 84.67% degradation of methyl blue in 50 min, respectively. Finally, the m-TiO2 exhibited excellent recyclability with negligible loss of activity performance.