Photocatalytic activity of sulfated Mo-doped TiO2@fumed SiO2 composite: A mesoporous structure for methyl orange degradation

•We developed a novel sulfated Mo-doped TiO2@fumed SiO2 photocatalyst.•The catalyst exhibited a mesoporous structure and anatase crystallites.•The catalyst showed good photocatalytic activity for MO degradation.•The catalyst with 0.5% Mo dosage showed the highest photocatalytic activity.•The catalyst could be recycled for 6 times, remaining 90.0% MO degradation ratio.

In this paper, a novel ultraviolet and visible light responsive photocatalyst, sulfated Mo-doped TiO2@fumed SiO2 composite, was synthesized by a feasible sol–gel method. A mesoporous structure and anatase crystallites were comfirmed by TEM, XRD and BET. The prepared catalysts exhibited good photocatalytic activity under both ultraviolet and visible light irradiation for methyl orange (MO) degradation. The XPS, UV–vis and FT-IR spectra indicated the high active sites on the surface were caused by doping Mo and performing the sulfation. The composite catalyst with 0.5% Mo dosage showed the highest photocatalytic activity. And the composite catalyst can be recycled for 6 times, remaining 90.0% MO degradation ratio under UV irradiation. The high surface area and high active sites on the composite surface are considered as the key factors.

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