Preparation and characterization of SiO2-pillared H2Ti4O9 and its photocatalytic activity for methylene blue degradation.

SiO(2) pillared layered titanate (SiO(2)-H(2)Ti(4)O(9)) was prepared via intercalating organosilanes into the interlayers of the layered K(2)Ti(4)O(9) followed by calcination at 500 degrees C. The resulting materials were characterized using XRD, N(2) adsorption-desorption isotherms, UV-vis spectra, IR spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity of SiO(2)-H(2)Ti(4)O(9) was evaluated by photocatalytic degradation of aqueous methylene blue dye (MB). XRD and specific surface area results showed that SiO(2)-H(2)Ti(4)O(9) had an interlayer distance of 1.45 nm and a specific surface area of 148 m(2)g(-1). UV-vis absorption spectrum of SiO(2)-H(2)Ti(4)O(9) showed a red shift, indicative of a narrower band gap compared to K(2)Ti(4)O(9). In addition, SiO(2)-H(2)Ti(4)O(9) showed higher MB adsorption capacity compared to H(2)Ti(4)O(9) and K(2)Ti(4)O(9). MB photodegradation over H(2)Ti(4)O(9), K(2)Ti(4)O(9) and SiO(2)-K(2)Ti(4)O(9) followed zero-order kinetics under our experimental conditions, and the photocatalytic activity of SiO(2)-H(2)Ti(4)O(9) was found to be three times higher than that of K(2)Ti(4)O(9), which could be attributed to the increase of interlayer space and specific surface area of SiO(2)-pillared layered titanate.