Facile synthesis of porous TiO2 photocatalysts using waste sludge as the template

Abstract A resource utilization method of waste sludge is present by the synthesis of waste sludge templated TiO 2 photocatalysts. The organic materials in waste sludge are used as the pore-forming agents, and the transition metals included in the remaining waste sludge through calcination (WSC) can serve as the dopants for the WSC-TiO 2 (WSCT) photocatalyst. The visible and UV–visible light driven photocatalytic activities of WSCT are much better compared to those of pure TiO 2 and WSC, and it is originated from the higher light absorption property and the efficient electron–hole pair separation provided by waste sludge.