Enhanced photocatalytic activity of silica-embedded TiO2 hollow microspheres prepared by one-pot approach

Si-doped TiO2/carbon composite solid microspheres were prepared by a simple one-pot hydrothermal approach, using glucose, ammonium fluorotitaniate and ammonium fluorosilicate as raw materials. Then silica-embedded TiO2 hollow microspheres were obtained by calcination of the as-prepared precursor. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), N2 adsorption-desorption measurement, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra (UV-vis DRS) were used to characterize the as-fabricated samples. Methylene blue (MB) solution was taken as the degradation model to evaluate the photocatalytic activity of the samples under ultraviolet light. The result showed that a remarkable improvement of photocatalytic activity for TiO2 hollow microspheres could be obtained by addition of silicon.