Palygorskite and SnO2-TiO2 for the photodegradation of phenol

►SnO2-TiO2 nanoparticles with an average size about 10 nm withou obvious aggregation were successfully deposited on palygorskite fibres by an in situ sol-gel technique. ►Photodecomposition of phenol was used to investigate the photocatalytic activity of the modified palygorskites. Compared with Paly-TiO2, Paly-SnO2 and Degussa P25, SnO2-TiO2 and Paly-SnO2-TiO2 exhibited much higher photocatalytic activity, reaching 99.8% phenol decomposition within 1.5 h. ►TThe chemical oxygen demand (COD) of phenol decreased from 220 mg/L to 0.21mg/L after reaction with Paly-SnO2-TiO2 for 90 min.