Synthesis and photocatalytic characterization of titania-supported bamboo charcoals by using sol–gel method

The present work examined the photocatalytic behavior of methylene blue (MB) on titania-dispersed bamboo charcoals, prepared by sol–gel method combined with chemical-wet impregnation. The experimental results of nitrogen adsorption showed that specific surface area of the TiO2-charcoals was found to increase with TiO2 loading, whereas their mean pore sizes exhibited a decreasing trend. It can be suggested that TiO2 nanoparticles were mostly coated on the charcoal surface and partially deposited in the mouth of pore channels. Our preparation technique for the heterogeneous catalysts improves the dispersed degree of TiO2 catalyst, which shows a better photocatalytic performance than pure TiO2 aggregation. A linearity relationship between the overall photocatalytic efficiency and the TiO2 loading reflected that each titania particle behaves an identical photocatalytic reactivity. The liquid-phase photocatalytic behavior of the heterogeneous catalysts can be well described by Elovich kinetic model.