Synthesis of highly porous SiO2–(WO3)x·TiO2 composite aerogels using bacterial cellulose as template with solvothermal assisted crystallization

• The highly porous SiO2–(WO3)x·TiO2 composite aerogels were prepared by ambient pressure drying.
• Solvothermal crystallization process was adopted to increase the TiO2 crystallinity.
• Introduction of BC in the gel helps to increase the pore volume of the aerogels.
• Using BC as template is favorable for inducing deposition of (WO3)x·TiO2 particles.

The SiO2–(WO3)x·TiO2 composite aerogels with high crystallinity and porosity were successfully synthesized via a novel ambient pressure drying. Before the solvent exchange/surface modification process was conducted, a solvothermal crystallization process was adopted for the SiO2/bacterial-cellulose (BC) composite gel to be loaded with (WO3)x·TiO2 particles. The results indicate that using BC template and solvothermal assisted crystallization was an effective way to increase the porosity and crystallinity of the composite aerogels simultaneously. The obtained composite aerogels exhibited higher specific surface area and pore volume, and showed much higher removing rate of Rhodamine B than P25 powder due to its enhanced adsorption/photocatalytic activity.

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