Mesoporous carbons (MCs) were widely used as catalyst
supports in liquid adsorption and energy storage because of
their high surface areas and large pore volumes, inert nature in
certain rigorous circumstances, and easy regeneration
properties[15-18]. When they are used as catalyst supports
associated with photo- or electro-catalysis, the good electron
conducting character of carbon supports may have some
positive effect to improve catalytic activities. However, there
are only limited publications concerning this effect.
In this study, mesoporous carbon (MC) with a high
surface area was fabricated through using nanoscaled silica in
silica sol as the template[19-21], and then the obtained MC was
used as a support to prepare TiO2/MC nanocomposites
through a sol-gel method. The effect of the MC matrix on the
TiO2 phase transformation, crystalline growth, morphology
and surface area of the composites were investigated, and their activities towards the degradation of a model organic (methyl orange, MO) in aqueous solutions were also evaluated.