Synthesis of TiO2-doped carbon aerogel from sugarcane bagasse for high efficiency of photodegradation of methylene blue in the water

In this work, TiO2-doped carbon aerogel (TiO2/CA) was synthesized from sugarcane bagasse hydrothermal, freeze-drying, and carbonization methods. The effects of the calcination temperatures of 400, 500, 600, 700, and 800(o)C were also evaluated. The obtained TiO2/CA exhibits an ultralow density (0.021-0.032 g/cm(3)) and porosity of more than 97 %. The as-prepared TiO2/CA was applied in photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) with the effects of dose sample and pH were also investigated. The results show that TiO2/CA at 800(o)C (TiO2/CA-800) exhibits the highest MB photodegradation efficiency of 93.86 % at pH 9. The aforementioned results affirm the potential application of sugarcane bagasse for the fabrication of environmentally friendly and low-cost adsorbents for the photodegradation of MB.