Titania-pillared molybdenum oxide as a new nanoporous photocatalyst

New nanoporous TiO ₂-MoO ₃ hybrids have been successfully synthesized via an exfoliation and reassembling method. According to the X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis, quantum-sized titania nanoparticles with an average size of 1 nm were intercalated into the interlayer spaces of layered MoO ₃. Such a regularity of pillars results in a remarkable enhancement of the specific surface area, as confirmed by nitrogen adsorption-desorption measurements. The Langmuir specific surface area (210 m ² g ^-1) of TiO ₂-pillared MoO ₃ hybrid has been determined to be considerably larger than that (10 m ² g ^-1) of the self-restacked MoO ₃. It is evident that adequate intercalation of TiO ₂ nanoparticles into a MoO ₃ lattice gives rise to a highly nanoporous structure. The photocatalytic activity of the present nanoporous hybrid is much superior to that of layered molybdenum oxide alone in terms of the degradation of organic pollutant.