Mesoporous titania photocatalyst: effect of relative humidity and aging on the preparation of mesoporous titania and on its photocatalytic activity performance Suhaina Mohd Ibrahim • Abdul Kadir Masrom • Babak Mazinani • Shahidan Radiman • Farinaa Md Jamil • Ali Beitollahi • Nobuaki Negishi • Noorhana Yahya Received: 24 April 2012 / Accepted: 21 May 2012 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012 Abstract Mesoporous TiO 2 has been synthesized by the sol–gel method, using a nonionic triblock copolymer P123 as surfactant template under acidic conditions. The as-prepared samples were characterized by thermogravimetry–differential thermal analysis (TG–DTA), nitrogen absorption–desorption (BET), field emission scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The photo- catalytic activity of the mesoporous TiO 2 was evaluated by degradation of meth- ylene blue under high-intensity UV light irradiation; the amount of methylene blue was measured by UV–visible spectroscopy. TG–DTA analysis revealed that the surfactant had been removed partly in as-synthesized samples. BET analysis proved that all the samples retained mesoporosity with a narrow pore-size distribution S. Mohd Ibrahim (&)  A. K. Masrom  F. Md Jamil Advanced Material Research Centre (AMREC), SIRIM Berhad, Lot 34, Jalan Hi-Tech 2/3, Kulim Hi-Tech Park, 09000 Kulim, Kedah, Malaysia e-mail: suenacbw@yahoo.co.uk B. Mazinani  A. Beitollahi Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Narmak, Tehran, Iran S. Radiman School of Applied Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia N. Negishi Institute for Environmental Management Technology, National Institute of Advance Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba West, 16-1 Onogawa, Tsukuba 305-8569, Japan N. Yahya Faculty of Science and Information Technology, Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP), Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia 123 Res Chem Intermed DOI 10.1007/s11164-012-0611-0