Biomorphic porous TiO2 with wood template size scaling for improved adsorption and photocatalysis performance

Biomorphic TiO 2 with hierarchical porous structures for photocatalytic degradation is fabricated by templating wood residues of different size scales (lignocellulose, wood flour, and solid wood as biological templates) using a simple sol–gel method. Compared to template-free TiO 2 , the biomorphic TiO 2 had a better adsorption capacity and photocatalytic performance when decomposing methylene blue (MB) and phenol. The lignocellulose-templated TiO 2 reached adsorption equilibrium within 60 min because of a composite hierarchical structure with the complex interlaced wood, and demonstrated 98.9 and 84.3% degradation of MB and phenol within 60 min under visible light conditions. The multiscale structures of these wood templates enhanced light absorption and mass transfer efficiency due to the presence of additional surface hydroxyl groups and a reduced bandgap. This research proposes a convenient synthesis method to obtain biomorphic TiO 2 using wood residues and modifies the physio-chemical interaction between wood and TiO 2 to enhance the visible light response and transfer of photogenerated charge carriers in the system.