Photocatalytic degradation of phenol on TiO2 and TiO2/Pt sensitized with metallophthalocyanines

TiO2 sensitized with Zn(II) and Co(II) tetracarboxyphthalocyanine (TcPcM) showed relevant photocatalytic activity on the degradation of phenol in the visible spectral region. The photonic efficiencies (η) of phenol degradation were 0.043 on TcPcCo/TiO2 and 0.033 on TcPcZn/TiO2. Photodeposition of platinum on TcPcM/TiO2 enhanced reaction photoefficiency up to η ≅ 0.1. The amount of CO2 produced with TcPcZn/TiO2/Pt was 1.95 mol CO2/mol of initial phenol, which corresponds to about 33% of “initial phenolic index” and with TcPcCo/TiO2/Pt was 3.5 mol CO2/mol of initial phenol, about 65% of “initial phenolic index”.