Construction of Indium and Cerium Codoped Ordered Mesoporous TiO2 Aerogel Composite Material and Its High Photocatalytic Activity

Abstract

Abstract In this study, ordered mesoporous In2O3‐CeO2/TiO2 aerogel composite material is fabricated via a sol–gel method. According to the preparation process of the aerogel, different weight percentages Ce(NO3)3 and In(NO3)3 are dissolved in the solvent, which would be completely dispersed in the porous gel when the system completely becomes gel. The prepared materials are used to degrade the Rhodamine B (Rh B) under visible light irradiation. 0.2 wt% In2O3‐0.2 wt% CeO2/TiO2 (In0.2‐Ce0.2/TiO2) sample has the highest degradation rate which reaches to 96.20%. When degradation time is continuously increased to 110 min, the degradation efficiency of In0.2‐Ce0.2/TiO2 sample is basically retained. The prepared In0.2‐Ce0.2/TiO2 sample has much better stability and reproducibility under visible light irradiation, the photocatalytic degradation efficiency of In0.2‐Ce0.2/TiO2 sample is still stable at more than 90% after the five times cycle.

Keywords

• composites
• ordered mesoporous TiO2 aerogels
• photocatalytic
• Rhodamine B