Structurally engineered TiO2–SiO2 monolithic designs for the enhanced photocatalytic degradation of organic textile dye pollutants

Abstract

The rapid removal of organic textile dye (Acid Red-85) using mesoporous TiO2–SiO2 monoliths as photocatalyst material has been studied. The 7:3 mole% ratios of TiO2 and SiO2 within the framework provided a well-ordered cage-like monolithic design with high surface area and pore volume that facilitated faster and efficient degradation of the dye effluents. The photocatalyst has been characterized using XRD, TEM-SAED, UV–Vis-DRS, PL, TGA and BET analysis. The influence of various photocatalytic operational parameters, such as solution pH, dopant stoichiometry, catalyst dosage, dye concentration, kinetics, photo-oxidizers, etc., which could influence on the degradation efficiency, has been studied.