engleski

TiO2-composite Photocatalytic Materials for Solar Driven Water Purification

The most common photocatalytic material, TiO2, has widely been promoted in water purification processes due to the high photocatalytic activity under UV irradiation as well as chemical and thermal stability, and attractive mechanical properties. However, harvesting a broader spectrum of solar irradiation is constrained by the band gap of semiconducting material, whilst the recombination rate of photogenerated charges lower photocatalytic activity as well. Strategies for improving these two deficiencies include: doping with non-metals, incorporation/deposition of noble metals (ions), and composites with transition metals, carbon nanotubes, dye sensitizers, conductive polymers, (reduced) graphene (oxide) and semiconducting materials, presenting viable, attractive and energy efficient options for utilization of the vast abundance of outdoor solar irradiation for catalyst activation, thus leading to the significant decrease of operational costs. This work addresses the above mentioned constrains of TiO2 photocatalysis by developing TiO2-based composite materials made of TiO2 nano-particles and (i) transition metals (iron ; Fe), where iron containing ZSM5 zeolite was used ; (ii) semiconducting materials (SnS2 or α- Fe2O3) ; (iii) (reduced) graphene-oxide (GO/RGO) ; and (iv) conductive polymers (poly(3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene) - PEDOT). The hypothesis is that the solar photocatalytic treatment of water containing recalcitrant organic pollutants would be more efficient utilizing developed composite materials instead of benchmark AEROXIDE TiO2 P25. The composite photocatalysts were characterized using XRD, FTIR, TGA, SEM/EDXS, TEM, ICP-MS, Raman, and DRS analyses in order to assess their physical, chemical and optical properties, while their activity under solar irradiation was assessed by treating contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) such as diclofenac, 17β-estradiol, and bisphenol A.

photocatalysis ; water treatment ; nanocomposite ; solar irradiation

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