Preparation of microporous zeolites TiO2/SSZ-13 composite photocatalyst and its photocatalytic reactivity

Abstract Development of novel hybrid photocatalysts with high efficiency and durability for photocatalytic hydrogen generation is highly desired but still remains a grand challenge currently. In the present work, TiO 2 -doped microporous zeolite SSZ-13 with varying amounts of TiO 2 were prepared using solid state dispersion (SSD) method, as photocatalysts for the evolution of photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue and H 2 evolution under UV–vis irradiation. The incorporation of P25 into SSZ-13 zeolite significantly enhanced the photocatalytic activity for H 2 evolution (reduction) and degradation of methylene blue (oxidation). And the most efficient photocatalyst was proven to 60%TiO 2 loading, whose H 2 generation (126.7 μmol/h) was profoundly enhanced for 3 times with respect to P25 (37.2 μmol/h) and degradation rate of methylene blue was 96% within 2.5 h. The photocatalysts were characterized by XRD, SEM, BET, UV–vis and PL. The results showed TiO 2 were well dispersed on the surface of zeolite and the strong interaction between P25 and SSZ-13 zeolite, which improved significantly photocatalytic performance of P25. This study suggested the potential photocatalytic application of microporous zeolite SSZ-13 as a catalyst carrier.