Rapid Formation of Active Mesoporous TiO ₂ Photocatalysts via Micelle in a Microwave Hydrothermal Process

Abstract

Rapid formation of active, mesoporous, and crystalline TiO 2 photocatalysts via a novel microwave hydrothermal process is presented. Crystalline anatase mesoporous nanopowders 100–300 nm in size with worm hole‐like pore sizes of 3–5 nm were prepared by a modified sol–gel of titanium tetra‐isopropoxide, accelerated by a microwave hydrothermal process. The organic surfactant, tetradecylamine, which is used as a self‐assembly micelle in the sol–gel and microwave hydrothermal process, enables to harvest crystallized mesoporous anatase nanoparticles with a high‐surface area. Mesoporous worm hole‐like and crystalline powders with surface areas of 243–622 m 2 /g are obtained. X‐ray diffraction, N 2 ‐adsorption isotherms (Barrett–Joyner–Halenda and Brunauer–Emmet–Teller method), scanning electron microscope, and transmission electron microscope are used to identify the characteristics and morphologies of the powders. It is shown that crystallization by calcination at 400°C/3 h inevitably reduced the surface area, while the microwave hydrothermal process demonstrated a rapid formation of crystalline mesoporous TiO 2 nanopowders with a high‐surface area and excellent photocatalytic effects.