engleski

Development and study of process effectivity of the novel conducting polymer based photocatalysts for reactive azo dye degradation in model waste water

The manufacturing and the processing of dyes involve the handling and the production of many organic compounds that are toxic and hazardous to human health. Recent studies indicated that approximately 12% of synthetic dyes are lost annually during manufacturing and processing operations. Reactive dyes belong mostly to the non-biodegradable and recalcitrant type of water pollutants, which make activated sludge treatment methods inadequate. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) represent a potential alternative method able to decolorize and to reduce recalcitrant colored wastewater load. Photocatalysis is established as an effective AOP as sustainable water treatment technology offering a perspective for the degradation of many organic water pollutants, converting them to biodegradable compounds or completely mineralizing them into carbon dioxide and water. Titanium dioxide, TiO2, is one of the most important photocatalyst, which is widely used due to its chemical stability and high photocatalytic activity. However, relatively high recombination rate of electron-hole pair in excited TiO restricts its photocatalytic activity thus hindering its practical application in the water treatment processes. Conducting polymers as poly(3, 4- ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) with extended π-conjugated electron system and satisfactory environmental stability can act as stable photosensitizer to sensitize TiO2 under solar light irradiation. The objective was to synthesize PEDOT-TiO2 based photocatalysts and to investigate photocatalytic activities under UV/Visible and solar light irradiation using simulated wastewater containing organic azo dye C.I. Reactive Red 45 (RR45) as water pollutant to determine the degradation efficiency in terms of decolorization and total organic carbon (TOC) removal. Photocatalysts were synthesized by oxidative chemical polymerization with two different oxidants, FeCl3 and APS at different polymerization conditions (time and temperature).

photocatalysis ; TiO2 ; azo dye ; RR45

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