Enhancement of Photocatalytic Activity of TiO2 with Cross-linked Poly (amphoteric ionic liquid)

A novel composite material CPAIL@TiO2, which exhibits high photocatalytic activity, was prepared by a sol–gel method using raw materials of tetrabutoxytitanium and cross-linked poly(amphoteric ionic liquid) (CPAIL). The prepared CPAIL@TiO2 was characterized by XRD, SEM, EDS, TEM, FTIR, TGA and XPS. The results show that the mesoporous nanospheres of composite material CPAIL@TiO2 contains ca 40% TiO2, which is characterized as anatase. There existed chemical bands of C-O-Ti in the composite material. The CPAIL@TiO2 shows a good photocatalytic activity and cycle performance. The photocatalytic degradation efficiencies of the CPAIL@TiO2 could reach 97% and 55% of those of pure TiO2 for solutions of methyl orange (MO) and methylene blue (MB) respectively. In general, the above superiority of the composite material CPAIL@TiO2 demonstrates better prospects for applications in the field of environmental protection.