Synthesis and photocatalytic oxidation properties of titania hollow spheres

Abstract The hollow spheres of anatase TiO 2 with higher photocatalytic activity have been fabricated by spherical CaCO 3 nanoparticles as a template, and titanium sulfate (Ti(SO 4 ) 2 ) as a precursor, and the CaCO 3 templates were dissolved subsequently in dilute HNO 3 solution. The TiO 2 hollow spheres samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and N 2 adsorption–desorption isotherms. The characterization results indicate that as prepared TiO 2 hollow spheres sample was transformed to anatase phase in calcined at 400 °C, and the anatase TiO 2 hollow spheres have a higher specific surface area and show much better photocatalytic activity than commercial P25 in the photodegradation of Rhodamine B under the UV irradiation.