In(OH)3 photocatalyst was prepared using ultrasonic hydrolysis precipitation followed by calcining at temperature lower than 160 ℃.The characterizations by XRD,DRS,TG-DSC,TEM and FTIR show that the solid is a cubic crystal with 10—15 nm size,and has two band gaps,direct band gap 5.48 and indirect gap 5.02 eV.Evaluation of the photocatalytic activity toward oxidation reactions of benzene under UV irradiation(λmax=254 nm) showed that In(OH)3 presented much higher photoactivity and active stability than commercial Degussa-P25 TiO2.FTIR characterization for the samples before and after the photocatalytic reaction suggested that the better photocatalytic behavior of In(OH)3 than the TiO2 is due to lower aggradations of the intermediate species on its surface in photocatalytic process.
