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Updated: May 31, 2026
The Effect of Interfacial Chemical Bonding in TiO2-SiO2 Composites on Their Photocatalytic NOx Abatement Performance
Published on: July 4, 2017
Interfacial chemical bonding effect on the photocatalytic activity of TiO2-SiO2 nanocoupling systems
Musashi Fujishima1, Hiroaki Takatori, Hiroaki Tada
1Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Science and Engineering, Kinki University, 3-4-1 Kowakae, Higashi-Osaka, Osaka 577-8502, Japan.
Abstract:
TiO(2) nanoparticles (NPs) were deposited on the surfaces of SiO(2) microspheres with a mesoporous structure prepared by a hydrolysis-controlled sol-gel technique. The TiO(2) NPs were firmly combined on the surfaces of SiO(2) microspheres through the interfacial Si-O-Ti bonds. The coupling causes the bandgap widening up to 3.37 eV, enhancing the photocatalytic activity for the decomposition of acetaldehyde under illumination of UV-light (330 < λ < 400 nm). Density functional theory calculations for model clusters suggested that the observed results are derived from the lowering in the valence band edge energy with the interfacial bond formation.
