Mesoporous PdO–TiO2 nanocomposites with enhanced photocatalytic activity

Herein, we report a synthesis of mesoporous PdO–TiO2 nanocomposites at different PdO (0–3 wt%) through simple one-step sol–gel reactions. Pd2+ ions have been immobilized into TiO2 networks by cross-linking triblock copolymer (Pluronic F123) as the structure-directing agents to develop highly efficient PdO–TiO2 photocatalyst. The produced PdO–TiO2 gel were calcined at 400 °C for 4 h to remove organic materials. TiO2 nanoparticles with an average diameter are 8–10 nm and PdO nanoparticles are well dispersed and exhibit diameters of about 10–40 nm based on the PdO content. Our prepared photocatalysts have been compared with Pd/Aeroxide TiO2-P25 by the determination of the initial rate of HCHO formation generated by the photooxidation of CH3OH in aqueous suspensions to calculate the corresponding photonic efficiencies. The newly prepared PdO–TiO2 nanocomposites showed a more effective and high efficient photocatalytic activities for CH3OH oxidation to HCHO ∼4 and 2 times than TiO2-P25 and Pd/TiO2-P25 respectively. In the present work, the photocatalytic activities of the obtained PdO–TiO2 nanocomposites were significantly higher than those of previously reported. To the best of our knowledge, the measured photonic efficiency ξ = 19.5% of mesosporous PdO–TiO2 nanocomposites is found to be among the highest ξ-values reported up to now.

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► Mesoporous PdO–TiO2 nanocomposites have been achieved.
► Addition of PdO into TiO2 enhanced the photoactivity of TiO2.
► PdO–TiO2 nanocomposites showed a more effective ∼4 times than TiO2-P25.
► Photonic efficiency mesosporous PdO–TiO2 nanocomposites is ξ = 19.5%.
► This ξ value is found to be among the highest reported up to now.