Synthesis and Catalytic Activity of Surfactant-Templated Nanoporous TiO(2)

Nanoporous TiO(2) were synthesized via hydrolysis of titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) in HCl acidic conditions using sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) as a templating agent. The order of the nanostructure of samples before calcination was improved with increasing the SDS/TTIP molar ratio. The calcined samples presented uniform mesopore structure with the average diameter of 4-5 nm and considerably large surface areas over 200m(2)/g, although the periodicity of the nanostructure was exceedingly reduced by the removal of the template. The prepared TiO(2) exhibited exceedingly higher activities on the catalytic oxidation of benzene compared to the commercial TiO(2), probably due to the difference of their pore suructures.