Synthesis of visible-light driven CrxOy–TiO2 binary photocatalyst based on hierarchical macro–mesoporous silica

Hierarchical macro–mesoporous silica materials co-incorporated with Cr and Ti (MM–Si–Cr–Ti) were directly synthesized using polystyrene arrays as hard templates for macropore, which presented visible-light driven photocatalytic activity toward the degradation of AO7. Compared with samples with only macropores (Ma–Si–Cr–Ti) or mesopores (Me–Si–Cr–Ti), MM–Si–Cr–Ti exhibited higher activity due to the highly interconnected and accessible pore structure. The visible light responsive activity is attributed to the effective metal to metal charge transfer from Cr(VI) to Ti(IV), which is benefitted from the uniform dispersion of these two species and their efficient contact in the porous matrix. •Macro–mesoporous silica materials co-incorporated with Cr and Ti were synthesized.•Cooperation between Cr and Ti leads to visible-light driven photocatalytic activity.•Highly interconnected porous structure improve the photocatalytic activity. Hierarchical macro–mesoporous silica materials co-incorporated with Cr and Ti were directly synthesized by adopting close-packed array of polystyrene microsphere as hard template for macropore through a simple soaking-calcination way, where Si/Ti ratio was fixed at 200 and Si/Cr ratio was set between 200 and 10. Ti specie is highly dispersed in porous matrix and Cr specie mainly exists as tetra-coordinated CrO3 at higher Si/Cr ratio (Si/Cr≥50), which transforms to a mixture of CrO3 and crystallized hexa-coordinated Cr2O3when Si/Cr ratio is below 50. This highly interconnected porous material co-incorporated with Cr and Ti presents highest visible-light driven photocatalytic activity at Si/Cr=20 toward degradation of AO7. Moreover, macro–mesoporous photocatalyst presents higher activity than those of macroporous and mesoporous ones at the same Si/Cr ratio. The improved visible light driven catalytic activity is mainly attributed to effective metal to metal charge transfer from Cr(VI) to Ti(IV) benefitted from the uniform dispersion of these two species in hierarchical porous silica matrix.