UV/visible-light photodegradation of organic dyes over mesoporous titania prepared by using 2,4,5-triphenylimidazole as template

In this work, mesoporous TiO2 compose of anatase and brookite phases (M-TiO2) has been synthesized using 2,4,5-triphenylimidazole as template. The physical features of the as-prepared catalyst was measured by X-ray diffraction (XRD), low-temperature nitrogen adsorption/desorption, UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectrum, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The photocatalytic performance of the catalyst was evaluated in terms of the degradation of organic dyes. It is found that M-TiO2 exhibits reasonable activity under UV light and can significantly degrade methylthionine chloride, rhodamine B, gentian violet, safranine T, methyl violet and fuchsine basic under visible-light irradiation (λ≥420 nm).