Polymerizable sol–gel precursor mediated synthesis of TiO2 supported zeolite-4A and its photodegradation of methylene blue

•A new polymerizable sol–gel approach has been studied to synthesize supported TiO2.•Highly dispersed TiO2 supported zeolite-4A has been synthesized using this approach.•The catalysts obtained by this approach exhibited high surface area.•The 20% TiO2/zeolite-4A showed high photodegradation of Methylene Blue dye.

A polymerizable sol–gel method has been employed to synthesize tailored TiO2 supported zeolite-4A. The synthetic procedure was optimized by using FTIR, TGA and DSC to prepare various TiO2 loading ranging from 10 to 30 wt% on the support. The as-synthesized materials were characterized thoroughly with powder XRD, SEM, UV–Vis spectroscopy and BET surface area measurements. The characterization reveals that the polymerizable sol–gel approach yields highly dispersed nano-crystalline TiO2 on the zeolite-4A support. The tailored materials exhibited high rate of photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue at alkaline pH. The used catalysts were subjected to recyclability investigations, which demonstrated highly stable surface of these materials.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide