TiO(2)-Ag hybrid hollow spheres (about 700 nm in diameter) with a highly uniform morphology and good structural stability were facilely prepared via a one-pot hydrothermal method, using carbon spheres as templates followed by an annealing treatment. Through this route, the as-prepared hybrid hollow spheres preserved the uniformity of the initial carbon sphere templates and the loading amount of the Ag nanocrystals can be conveniently varied or controlled by the concentration of the Ag precursor. The investigation of the photocatalytic ability demonstrated that the as-prepared TiO(2)-Ag hybrid hollow spheres possess excellent photocatalytic activity, superior to commercial TiO(2) nanoparticles (Degussa P25), for the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) and methyl orange (MO) dyes under visible-light illumination. Furthermore, the ˙OH radicals formed during photocatalysis with different Ag content hybrids were revealed by means of a terephthalic acid fluorescence probe method, which uncovers that the Ag content in the TiO(2)-Ag hybrids was crucial to obtain an optimal synergistic effect between the Ag and TiO(2) for the degradation of organic pollutants. Accordingly, the optimum matching for the best photocatalytic activity was investigated thoroughly and a reasonable mechanism was also proposed.
We demonstrate a facile and novel chemical precipitation strategy for the accurate coating of TiO2nanoparticles on the surface of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to form CNT/TiO2nanohybrids, which only requires titanium sulfate and CNTs as starting materials and reacts in the alkaline solution at 60°C for 6 h. Using this process, the as-prepared hybrid structures preserved the good dispersity and uniformity of initial CNTs. Furthermore, the CNT/TiO2nanohybrids show a broad blue luminescence at 469 nm and exhibit significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity for the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) under visible-light irradiation, which is about 1.5 times greater than that of commercial Degussa P25 TiO2nanoparticles. It is believed that this facile chemical precipitation strategy is scalable and its application can be extended to synthesize other CNT/oxide nanohybrids for various applications.
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