Hydrothermal synthesis of mesoporous WO3–TiO2 powders with enhanced photocatalytic activity

Abstract Mesoporous WO 3 –TiO 2 powders were prepared via hydrothermal synthesis using nonionic surfactant P123 as template. The influences of template P123 addition amount and calcining temperature on the pore structure and properties of WO 3 –TiO 2 powders were investigated. The microstructure, morphology and pore size distribution of the WO 3 –TiO 2 powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), UV–Vis spectroscopy and N 2 adsorption–desorption analysis etc. The results indicate that the calcination temperature and P123 addition amount have great effects on the specific surface area and pore volume of mesoporous WO 3 –TiO 2 powders. The pore volume and specific surface area of the as-prepared mesoporous WO 3 –TiO 2 powders were 0.40–0.60 m 3 /g and 32–52 m 2 /g, respectively. The as-prepared mesoporous WO 3 –TiO 2 powders, calcined at 400 °C with 0.2 mol% P123/(W + Ti) and calcined at 600 °C with 0.8 mol% P123/(W + Ti), exhibited highest adsorption/photocatalytic ability. With the increase of the P123 adding amount, the synthesized mesoporous WO 3 –TiO 2 samples calcined at 600 °C showed an increasing tendency of photocatalytic degradation rate.