engleski

Nanostructured CuO@TiO2: an efficient photocatalyst for degradation of diclofenac from the aqueous solution

Environmental pollution and the absence of cost- effective renewable energy resources are acknowledged problems nowadays. As a consequence, the development of low-cost, sustainable, clean, and energy-efficient technologies is required. Various studies proved that titanium dioxide is environmentally friendly, chemically stable, commercially available, non-toxic and efficient photocatalyst, widely used for water and air purification. Despite the named benefits, the energy efficiency of photo-activated processes is limited since the photocatalytic activity only appears under the UV light irradiation. To overcome the TiO2 limits and enhance overall photoactivity, a more efficient photocatalyst, active also under visible light irradiation, have to be synthesized. Various ways have been proposed to improve TiO2 photocatalytic activity and reduce high rate recombination between photogenerated electrons and holes, including metal/non-metal doping, surface modifications, semiconductor heterostructures, etc. Copper is a non-expensive alternative, it can be used for the surface modification of TiO2 and induce visible-light photocatalytic activity of the photocatalyst in a simple process that does not introduce impurities or vacancy levels into the crystal. Using titanium tetraisopropoxide and copper nitrate as titania and copper sources, a sol-gel method was used to synthesize Cu-modified TiO2 with different Cu concentrations. The objective of this research was to investigate how CuO modifications can improve the photocatalytic activity of CuO@TiO2 under the UV/Vis light irradiation. In our work, we showed full degradation of diclofenac, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug used to treat pain and inflammatory diseases, and explained the correlations between photocatalytic activity and chemical structure of the CuO@TiO2 photocatalysts.

Nanostructured TiO2 ; CuO ; diclofenac ; photocatalysis

nije evidentirano