Synthesis and Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity of Black Porous Zr-doped TiO2 Monoliths

Black Porous Zr-doped TiO 2 monoliths were successfully synthesized by a combined route including sol–gel method with polystyrene spheres as template followed by calcination at high temperature in the presence of oxygen. As-synthesized samples were then treated in hydrogen atmosphere at 500 ∘ C for 6 h to obtain black Porous Zr-doped TiO 2 monoliths. This as-synthesized black porous Zr-doped TiO 2 composite showed relatively narrow bandgap compared to the pure anatase phase of TiO 2 , which may have its origin from the contributions from the Zr impurity and oxygen vacancies. The photocatalytic activity of the black porous Zr-doped TiO 2 monolith was examined by carrying out the dye degradation on Rhodamine B under visible irradiation. Our experimental results indicate that black porous 0.9% Zr-doped TiO 2 sample exhibits high photocatalytic activity with the photodecomposition of 95.25% under visible irradiation for 120 min.