Surfactant/co-polymer template hydrothermal synthesis of thermally stable, mesoporous TiO2 from TiOSO4

Industrial TiOSO4 solution was used as inorganic precursor to prepare mesoporous titania via composite template route, using cetyl-trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and tri-block copolymer EO20PO70EO20 (P-123) as structure-directing agents (SDA) under high acidic conditions. Mesoporous TiO2 with high thermal stability was obtained via controlling the hydrolysis and condensation rate of industrial TiOSO4 solution by adjusting the pH value and post hydrothermal treating. The as-prepared materials were characterized by XRD, nitrogen adsorption–desorption, SEM and HRTEM. The powder calcined at 723 K for 2 h showed higher thermal stability, with BET specific surface area of 218.7 m2/g and an average pore diameter of 3.63 nm.