Selective photodegradation of phenol in the presence of a commercial humic acid

It can be demonstrated that by controlling the porous structure of TiO2, the access of large size natural organic matter to the TiO2 can be suppressed, thus improving the selective oxidation of small size target contaminants. Phenol as a target contaminant was successfully decomposed even in the presence of a commercial humic acid as competing natural organic matter. Under UV irradiation, highly porous catalysts prepared with polyoxyethylene (20) sorbitan monooleate surfactant exhibited a higher photocatalytic activity for the degradation of phenol in the presence of a commercial humic acid than the materials prepared without this surfactant. Under visible irradiation, the material prepared with the surfactant and doped with Ce presented the best performance, probably due to the red shift of the electronic absorption band induced by cerium incorporation to TiO2.