Chemically modified polyurethane-SiO2/TiO2 hybrid composite film and its reusability for photocatalytic degradation of Acid Black 1 (AB 1) under UV light

•Synthesis of SiO2 core/TiO2 shell composite sphere with uniform in shape and size.•Surface modification of SiO2/TiO2 composite sphere using silane coupling agent.•Immobilization of high content of SiO2/TiO2 composite sphere into PU matrix without aggregation.•PU-SiO2/TiO2 hybrid film photocatalyst was successfully degraded the AB 1 dye.•Prepared PU-SiO2/TiO2 film photocatalyst is stable and reusable.

In this work, we have immobilized the surface modified SiO2 core/TiO2 shell composite sphere into polyurethane (PU) matrix to control the leaching of SiO2/TiO2 composite sphere during the photodegradation of dye solution. The uniform particle shape and sizes of SiO2 sphere and SiO2/TiO2 composite sphere are synthesized without aggregation by sol–gel method. The SiO2/TiO2 composite spheres are chemically bonded with polyurethane using glycidoxypropyltrimethoxy silane (GPTMS) as a coupling agent to increase the flexibility and reusability of the resulting PU-SiO2/TiO2 hybrid composite film for photocatalysis. The PU-SiO2/TiO2 hybrid film has been extensively characterized by FT-IR, XRD, TGA, FE-SEM and TEM. The sizes of the prepared SiO2 sphere and SiO2/TiO2 composite are about 310 nm and 320 nm, respectively. Photocatalytic activity of PU-SiO2/TiO2 hybrid film was studied towards Acid Black 1 (AB 1) under UV irradiation. The effects of operational parameters such as the amount of SiO2/TiO2 photocatalyst and initial pH on photomineralization have been analyzed. PU-40 wt% SiO2/TiO2 hybrid film with only 2.6 wt% TiO2 has achieved a very good photocatalytic activity and is reusable under cyclic tests.

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