Polymer Gel Templating of Free-Standing Inorganic Monoliths for Photocatalysis

Authors

Xiaojuan Fan, Marshall UniversityFollow
Honghan Fei
David H. Demaree
Daniel P. Brennan
Jessica M. St. John
Scott R. J. Oliver

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-2009

Abstract

We have developed a simple, low-cost process to fabricate free-standing porous metal oxide monoliths. Various swollen polymers and hydrogels possessing an open network structure are infiltrated with pure liquid metal alkoxide. Hydrolysis followed by chemical or thermal degradation of the polymer leads to bulk porous monoliths, TiO2 and SiO2 as initial examples. The titania solids were subsequently employed as photocatalysts under UV light and monitored for adsorption. The materials show efficient reusable photocatalytic ability as compared to pure-phase nanoparticle titanium oxide.

Comments

The version of record is available from the American Chemical Society at http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/la8029837.

Copyright © 2009 American Chemical Society.

Recommended Citation

Fan, X., Fei, H., Demaree, D. H., Brennan, D. P., St. John, J. M., & Oliver, S. R. (2009). Polymer gel templating of free-standing inorganic monoliths for photocatalysis. Langmuir, 25(10), 5835-5839.