Synthesis of highly ordered and worm-like mesoporous TiO2 assisted by tri-block copolymer

A highly ordered and worm-like mesoporous TiO2 materials have been prepared by evaporation-induced self-assembly method (EISA) using different concentrations of tri-block copolymer Pluronic F127 as a structure-directing agent and inorganic chlorides as precursors in a non-aqueous medium. The characterization of the mesoporous TiO2 was carried out using small angle X-ray diffraction (SAXD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and N2 adsorption/desorption. The well-ordered mesoporous TiO2 showed average pore size of 2.8–3.7 nm and high specific area of 263 m2/g. From TEM observation, the pore pore-wall is composed of nano-crystalline TiO2 domains after successfully synthesized at 573 K. The pore morphology changed from well-ordered to worm-like as the concentration of Pluronic F127 increased beyond 8.35%.