Synthesis of hierarchically ordered egg-tray-like macroporous TiO2-SiO2 nanocomposites with ordered mesoporous walls

In this work, the egg-tray-like TiO2-SiO2 nanocomposites, with a hierarchically ordered macro-mesoporous structure, were prepared for the first time via a facile dual-templating technique using poly(methyl methacrylate) colloidal crystal and triblock copolymer EO20PO70EO20 as templates. The synthesized sample was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, N2 adsorption and desorption and UV-visible diffuse reflectance. The results show the well-ordered mesopores located between the three-dimensionally ordered walls of the egg-tray-like macropores. The hierarchical TiO2-SiO2 nanocomposites with amorphous phase have large specific surface area (416 m2 g−1), and their macropore and mesopore width are centered at 210 and 3.3 nm, respectively.