Sub-20-nm anatase TiO2 anchored on hollow carbon spheres for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of reactive red 195

Herein, hollow carbon sphere (HCS)-supported titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) nanoparticles (sub-20-nm; HCS@TiO 2 )-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 2 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 2 but also improve the adsorption performance of the soluble reactive red 195 molecules (RR195) on the surface of TiO 2 nanoparticles. These properties of HCS@TiO 2 composites enable efficient photocatalytic degradation of RR195. The obtained results indicated that HCS@TiO 2 composites (80 wt% TiO 2 ) achieved the best photocatalytic degradation performance with higher photodegradation rate of 97% than pure TiO 2 nanoparticles (86%). This study offers a new pathway for the design and preparation of novel photocatalysts to achieve efficient degradation of degrading organic pollutants.