%0 journal article
%@ 2214-7853
%A Ovodok, E.,Maltanava, H.,Poznyak, S.,Ivanovskaya, M.,Kudlash, A.,Scharnagl, N.,Tedim, J.
%D 2018
%J Materials Today: Proceedings
%N 9-2
%P 17422-17930 
%R doi:10.1016/j.matpr.2018.06.044
%T Sol-gel template synthesis of mesoporous carbon-doped TiO2 with photocatalytic activity under visible light
%U https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2018.06.044
9-2 
%X Mesoporous TiO2 powders with an anatase framework were synthesized through surfactant-assisted template method. The concentrated titania sol (7-8 wt.%) prepared from TiCl4 as a precursor was used in this synthesis. The soluble triblock copolymer Pluronic F127 was employed as a structure-directing agent and a carbon precursor to fabricate the carbon-doped mesoporous titania. The synthesized powders were characterized by XRD, HRTEM, Raman spectroscopy, UV-Vis reflectance spectroscopy, N2 adsorption/desorption and TG/DSC methods. The mesoporous titania annealed at 350° C was shown to have a high specific surface area up to 192 m2/g and a narrow pore size distribution. After annealing, carbon species in graphitic form were detected in the template-prepared TiO2 samples using Raman spectroscopy measurements. The photocatalytic performance of the samples was characterized in the process of Rhodamine B decomposition under visible light irradiation. The enhanced visible light photocatalytic efficiency of the template-prepared TiO2 powders as compared with that of Degussa P25 can be attributed to the associated effects of high specific surface area, pure anatase crystalline structure and carbon doping.