A One-Pot Approach to Hierarchically Nanoporous Titania Hollow Microspheres with High Photocatalytic Activity

Abstract

A simple one-step template method for the fabrication of crystalline titania (TiO2) hollow microspheres, based on template-directed deposition and in situ template-sacrificial dissolution, is developed in pure water by using SiO2 microspheres as templates and TiF4 as the precursor at 60 °C. The wall thickness and size of the TiO2 hollow spheres can be controlled by adjusting the concentration of the precursor TiF4 and the size of the SiO2 spheres, respectively. The prepared TiO2 hollow spheres exhibit hierarchically nanoporous structures and a high photocatalytic activity. This hierarchically micromeso-macrostructured TiO2 hollow microspheres should find various potential applications in photocatalysis, catalysis, solar cells, and separation and purification processes.