Preparation of mesoporous TiO with enhanced photocatalytic activity towards tannery wastewater degradation.

Ordered mesoporous TiO materials are successfully synthesized via a sol-gel route using butyl titanate as a precursor and sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate surfactants as soft templates. The as-prepared TiO samples possess a relatively high surface area of 40.03 m/g and the center of pore diameter distribution of 13.04 nm. They exhibit excellent photocatalytic activity towards degradation of organic pollutants in tannery wastewater under UV-light and natural sunlight irradiation. The effect of the catalyst dosage, the pH value of the solution and the concentration of HO are discussed in detail. This work would pave an avenue for purifying various industrial wastewaters through an advanced photocatalytic oxidation process.