title: Polymer gel templating of free-standing inorganic monoliths for photocatalysis.
abstract: We have developed a simple, low-cost process to fabricate free-standing porous metal oxide monoliths. Various swollen polymers and hydrogels possessing an open network structure are infiltrated with pure liquid metal alkoxide. Hydrolysis followed by chemical or thermal degradation of the polymer leads to bulk porous monoliths, TiO2 and SiO2 as initial examples. The titania solids were subsequently employed as photocatalysts under UV light and monitored for adsorption. The materials show efficient reusable photocatalytic ability as compared to pure-phase nanoparticle titanium oxide.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA.
authors.forename: Xiaojuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Honghan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fei
authors.forename: David H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Demaree
authors.forename: Daniel P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Brennan
authors.forename: Jessica M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: St John
authors.forename: Scott R J
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Oliver