Alcohol-Induced Synthesis of Photocatalytic TiO2 with Controlled Hierarchical Structure

Three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical TiO 2 structures were obtained by a facile solvothermal process. Various analytical techniques were used to characterize the crystal phase, morphology and optical absorption of the obtained samples. The experimental results indicate that the morphology could be tailored by adjusting the volume ratio of glycerol to ethanol. The investigation of photocatalytic performance shows that all the as-prepared TiO 2 samples possess an excellent photocatalytic activity superior to commercial P25 in the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) dye under UV-light irradiation. In addition, the optimized volume ratio of ethanol to glycerol is 20 : 15. The possible mechanism related to the photocatalytic activity of the sample is discussed in detail. The enhanced photocatalytic activities of TiO 2 samples could result from their hierarchical structures assembled by 1D nanorods and large light-harvesting efficiency.