title: Fabrication of macro-mesoporous titania/alumina core-shell materials in oil/water interface.
abstract: A series of macro-mesoporous TiO2/Al2O3 nanocomposites with different morphologies were synthesized. The materials were calcined at 723 K and were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscope (TEM), N2 adsorption/desorption, Infrared Emission Spectroscopy (IES), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and UV-visible spectroscopy (UV-visible). A modified approach was proposed for the synthesis of 1D (fibrous) nanocomposite with higher Ti/Al molar ratio (2:1) at lower temperature (<100°C), which makes it possible to synthesize such materials on industrial scale. The performance-morphology relationship of as-synthesized TiO2/Al2O3 nanocomposites was investigated by the photocatalytic degradation of a model organic pollutant under UV irradiation. The samples with 1D (fibrous) morphology exhibited superior catalytic performance than the samples without, such as titania microspheres.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environmental Risk Assessment and Remediation, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA 5095, Australia. Electronic address: Erming.Liu@unisa.edu.au.
authors.forename: Erming
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Queensland University of Technology, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, Queensland 4001, Australia.
authors.forename: Massimiliano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vezzoli
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Queensland University of Technology, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, Queensland 4001, Australia.
authors.forename: Ashley J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Locke
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Queensland University of Technology, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, Queensland 4001, Australia.
authors.forename: Ray L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Frost
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Queensland University of Technology, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, Queensland 4001, Australia.
authors.forename: Wayde N
authors.initials: WN
authors.lastname: Martens
keywords: Core–shell nanocomposite; Fibrous catalyst; Hierarchical nanostructure; Oil/water interface; Photocatalyst