Sub-20-nm anatase TiO anchored on hollow carbon spheres for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of reactive red 195.

Herein, hollow carbon sphere (HCS)-supported titanium dioxide (TiO) nanoparticles (sub-20-nm; HCS@TiO)-based composites are rationally designed and fabricated via a facile wet-chemistry strategy. The introduction of an HCS, which acts as a conductive substrate, improves the separation efficiency of photogenerated hole/electron pairs (h/e) from TiO because photogenerated electrons are transferred to conductive carbon skeleton. Due to the three-dimensional spherical structure and excellent hydrophilicity of the carbon skeletons, low-density HCS with outstanding conductivity not only accelerate the separation of photogenerated h/e pairs from TiO but also improve the adsorption performance of the soluble reactive red 195 molecules (RR195) on the surface of TiO nanoparticles. These properties of HCS@TiO composites enable efficient photocatalytic degradation of RR195. The obtained results indicated that HCS@TiO composites (80 wt% TiO) achieved the best photocatalytic degradation performance with higher photodegradation rate of 97% than pure TiO nanoparticles (86%). This study offers a new pathway for the design and preparation of novel photocatalysts to achieve efficient degradation of degrading organic pollutants.