Microorganism-Templated Nanoarchitectonics of Hollow TiO2-SiO2 Microspheres with Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity for Degradation of Methyl Orange

Shenglan Liao; Liqin Lin; Jiale Huang; Xiaolian Jing; Shiping Chen; Qingbiao Li

doi:10.3390/nano12091606

Microorganism-Templated Nanoarchitectonics of Hollow TiO₂-SiO₂ Microspheres with Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity for Degradation of Methyl Orange

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2022 May 9;12(9):1606. doi: 10.3390/nano12091606.

Authors

Shenglan Liao^{1

2}, Liqin Lin², Jiale Huang¹, Xiaolian Jing², Shiping Chen², Qingbiao Li¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China.
² Department of Chemical Engineering and Pharmacy, College of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Quanzhou Normal University, Quanzhou 362000, China.

Abstract

In this study, hollow SiO₂ microspheres were synthesized by the hydrolysis of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) according to the Stober process, in which Pichia pastoris GS 115 cells were served as biological templates. The influence of the preprocessing method, the TEOS concentration, the ratio of water to ethanol, and the aging time on the morphology of microspheres was investigated and the optimal conditions were identified. Based on this, TiO₂-SiO₂ microspheres were prepared by the hydrothermal process. The structures and physicochemical properties of TiO₂-SiO₂ photocatalysts were systematically characterized and discussed. The photocatalytic activity for the degradation of methyl orange (MO) at room temperature under Xe arc lamp acting as simulated sunlight was explored. The result showed that the as-prepared TiO₂-SiO₂ microspheres exhibited a good photocatalytic performance.

Keywords: TiO2-SiO2; biotemplate; hollow SiO2 microspheres; photocatalyst.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province of China, grant number 2016J05044.