Preparation of titania/hydroxyapatite (TiO2/HAp) composite photocatalyst with mosaic structure for degradation of pentachlorophenol

Abstract Titania/hydroxyapatite (TiO 2 /HAp) composite with mosaic structure was successfully synthesized via a facile route without any structure-directing agent. XRD, EDS and FESEM were used to characterize the product. It is found that lots of spherical TiO 2 particles with average diameter of about 24 nm are formed, like pearls densely inlaid in the ravines of HAp carrier surface. Meanwhile, a possible surface adsorption layer hydrolysis mechanism for the formation of such novel structure has been proposed. Experimental results show that the obtained TiO 2 /HAp composite, which combines the excellent adsorption capacity of HAp and the high photocatalytic activity of TiO 2 , can effectively degrade persistent organic pollutant pentachlorophenol under UV irradiation.