Development of TiO2-C photocatalysts for solar treatment of polluted water

Two different types of Carbon-containing TiO2 photocatalysts were studied in depth. A hybrid TiO2-C spherical material was prepared by solvothermal synthesis from furfural and titanium isopropoxide and compared to a binary TiO2-activated carbon composite prepared using the slurry method. A systematic study of the catalyst concentration, type of pollutant molecule, the concentration of H2O2 and the type of irradiation (simulated solar irradiation and pilot-scale photoreactors) was performed. The influence of catalyst weight and H2O2 concentration was verified by following the kinetics of phenol (PH), imidacloprid (IM) and dichloroacetic acid (DCA) photodegradation. It may be concluded from the results that activated carbon promotes higher efficiency in the photoactivity of TiO2 than the hybrid TiO2-C photocatalyst. The basic surface chemistry and significant contribution of micropores in the binary TiO2-AC composite seem to be responsible for their higher TiO2 photoactivity than the TiO2-C hybrid materials which are characterized by a mesopore structure and an acid surface pH. This study shows the advantage of using a solar simulator to elucidate the efficiency of carbon materials in a thorough comparison including various photocatalytic reactions with several different substrates before testing at pilot scale.

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