Preparation and photocatalytic activity of Cu2+-doped 2, 4-dichlorophenol molecularly imprinted SiO2-TiO2 nanocomposite

A Cu²⁺-doped 2, 4-dichlorophenol (2, 4-DCP) molecularly imprinted TiO₂-SiO₂ nanocomposite catalyst was prepared by molecular imprinting technique in combination with sol-gel methods. The prepared material was characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectroscopy (IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and N₂ adsorption measurements. The photocatalytic ability and selectivity of the material was also evaluated. The results show that the Cu²⁺-doped imprinted material not only has good capacity but also favourable selectivity towards the photocatalytic degradation of the target pollutant, which was shown to be promising for selective removal of 2, 4-DCP from environmental samples.