title: Nanostructured Silica-Titania Hybrid using Dendritic Fibrous Nanosilica as a Photocatalyst.
abstract: A new method has been developed to fabricate active TiO2photocatalysts by tuning the morphology of the catalyst support. A sustainable solution-phase TiO2deposition on dendritic fibrous nanosilica (DFNS) protocol is developed, which is better than the complex and expensive atomic layer deposition technique. In general, catalytic activity decreases with an increased TiO2loading on conventional mesoporous silica because of the loss of the surface area caused by the blocking of pores. Notably, in the case of the dendritic fibrous nanosilica KCC-1 as a support, because of its open fibrous morphology, even at the highest TiO2loading, a relatively large amount of surface area remained intact. This improved the accessibility of active sites, which increased the catalytic performance of the KCC-1/TiO2photocatalyst. KCC-1-supported TiO2is a superior photocatalyst in terms of H2generation (26.4 mmol gTiO2-1h-1) under UV light. This study may provide a new direction for photocatalyst development through the morphology control of the support.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Homi Bhabha Road, Colaba, Mumbai, India.
authors.forename: Nisha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bayal
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Homi Bhabha Road, Colaba, Mumbai, India.
authors.forename: Rustam
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Homi Bhabha Road, Colaba, Mumbai, India.
authors.forename: Vivek
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-1375-9668
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Polshettiwar
mesh_terms: D002384:Catalysis; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D049329:Nanostructures; D010777:Photochemistry; D056951:Photoelectron Spectroscopy; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: C009495:titanium dioxide; D012822:Silicon Dioxide; D014025:Titanium
keywords: dendritic fibrous nanosilica; heterogeneous catalysis; hydrogen; photochemistry; water splitting