Fluoroalkyl end-capped vinyltrimethoxysilane oligomer/anatase titanium oxide nanocomposites possessing photocatalytic activity even after calcination at 1000°C.

ABSTRACT

Fluoroalkyl end-capped vinyltrimethoxysilane oligomer [R(F)-(VM)(n)-R(F)] underwent the sol-gel reaction under alkaline conditions in the presence of anatase titanium oxide nanoparticles (an-TiO(2)) in tetrahydrofuran to give the corresponding fluorinated oligomer/anatase titanium oxide nanocomposites [R(F)-(VM-SiO(2))(n)-R(F)/an-TiO(2)]. Crystalline structure of an-TiO(2) in the nanocomposites thus obtained was found to keep completely its structure without phase transformation to rutile even after calcination at 1000°C, although crystalline structure of the original an-TiO(2) nanoparticles underwent a complete phase transformation to the rutile under similar conditions. Interestingly, R(F)-(VM-SiO(2))(n)-R(F)/an-TiO(2) nanocomposites before and after calcination at 1000°C exhibited the similar photocatalytic activity for the decolorization of methylene blue under UV light irradiation.