Building on the synthetic strategies used to produce periodic mesoporous organosilicas, PMOs, different organic moieties have been introduced in titania with remarkable improvements in their photocalytic activity.Herein, a new strategy, based on the formation titanium alkoxides containing organic moieties, is used to produce organotitanias synthesized by the co-condensation of these compounds with tetrabutyl orthotitanate (Scheme 1). The incorporation of different moieties in titanium alkoxides was possible thanks to the use organic compounds as ligands that link two  tetracoordinated titanium, Ti(OR)4. The novel titania containing different organic moieties in their structure were prepared using water and ethanol as solvents and without the use of surfactants. The photocatalytic activity of the as-synthesized mesoporous organotitanias was measured in the degradation reaction of Rhodamine 6G under UV irradiation (525 nm, 125 W). The photocatalytical activity of the synthesized organotitanias is enhanced up to one order of magnitude when compared with the organic-free titania sample while textural and structural properties are maintained thus proving that the incorporation of the organic compounds into the titania framework leads to novel mesoporous photocatalysts.Figure 1. Route of preparation of hybrid mesoporous organotitanias showing the structure of the organotitania precursor and the proposed structure of the networks.

Organotitanias for photocatalytic applications

246th National Meeting (2013)

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