Highly interconnected, trimodal porous TiO2 with an inverse-opal structure for photocatalytic membrane water treatment☆

초록

Photocatalytic membranes currently face low permeability and limited interaction with pollutants due to deadend pores, leading to membrane fouling and reduced water treatment efficiency, highlighting the requirement for the development of novel structures. This study proposed a method of synthesizing novel highly interconnected, trimodal porous TiO2 membranes with an inverse-opal structure. Trimodal pore sizes and specific structures comprised of macro-, meso-, and micropores were achieved using a template-assisted method with a polystyrene (PS) opal layer, P123 surfactant, and NH2-MIL-125(Ti)-based metal-organic framework (MOF). The inverse-opal structure provided a highly ordered macropore network that facilitated efficient mass transfer, whereas the mesopores and micropores provided a high specific surface area that maximized the number of photocatalytic reaction sites. Structural analysis confirmed the formation of anatase-phase TiO(2 )with stable hierarchical pore architecture. Photocatalytic water treatment tests demonstrated that the membrane exhibited high photocatalytic efficiency when degrading organic pollutants, attributed to the synergistic effects of the hierarchical pore structure and active Ti-O-H surface sites. Therefore, the trimodal porous TiO2 membrane has considerable potential for scalable and sustainable photocatalytic water treatment.

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