Improvement of catalytic activity in styrene oxidation of carbon-coated titania by formation of porous carbon layer

► Carbon-coated titania was prepared by pyrolysis of polystyrene-coated titania. ► Polystyrene-coated titania was produced by in situ polymerization of styrene by using aqueous hydrogen peroxide. ► Porous carbon layer has been formed by treating the carbon-coated titania with KOH solution. ► The porous carbon-coated titania obtained exhibits a high catalytic activity for styrene oxidation. Porous carbon layer has been formed by treating the carbon-coated titania (C@TiO2) with KOH solution. Carbon-coated titania (C@TiO2) was obtained by pyrolysis of polystyrene-coated titania (PS@TiO2), which was produced by in situ polymerization of styrene by using aqueous hydrogen peroxide. The presence of polystyrene and carbon on the surface of titania were confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy techniques. Carbon content was about 2.2wt.% with thickness of carbon layer ca. 5nm. After treating with KOH solution, PC@TiO2 with the pore size of ca. 5nm, total pore volume of 0.05cm2g−1 and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) specific surface area of 46m2g−1 has been obtained. Catalytic activity results showed that PC@TiO2 gave a higher activity in styrene oxidation compared to bare TiO2, and C@TiO2. The highest catalytic activity was obtained by using PC@TiO2 that obtained after treating C@TiO2 with 1.0M KOH solution with benzaldehyde and phenylacetaldehyde as the main reaction products. At the higher concentration of KOH solution, the catalytic activity decreased when crystallinity of TiO2 decreased.