Photocatalytic activity of an electrophoretically deposited composite titanium dioxide membrane using carbon cloth as a conducting substrate

Abstract

This is the first report where a polymer, namely poly(vinylidene fluoride-cohexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP), has been used as a binder together with the electrophoretic deposition process. PVDF-HFP provided mechanical stability and membrane flexibility and, at the same time, eliminated the leaching of the electrophoreticly deposited TiO 2 particles in the solution during the water treatment process. Electrophoretic deposition of TiO 2 particles containing different weight percentages of PVDF-HFP were conducted and the required concentration of PVDF-HFP in the solution to prevent the leaching of TiO 2 was established. The so obtained material finds applications in the photocatalytic water treatment, as investigated under simulated solar light in aqueous solutions using 4-nitrophenol, caffeine, acetaminophen and uracil as target molecules. Results indicated the complete removal of 4-nitrophenol after 24 hours, degradation percentage above 80% of acetaminophen and uracil and 60% for caffeine. Photodegradation of pre-adsorbed methylene blue (MB) both under simulated solar radiation and visible light was successfully achieved in dry conditions as confirmed by diffusion reflectance spectra.

Photocatalytic Membranes in Degradation of Organic Molecules

“…However, polymeric membranes have some serious disadvantages when their application in photocatalytic membrane reactors (PMRs) is considered, namely low resistance to the action of UV light or oxidizing conditions [27]. A wide variety of methods such as phase inversion, atomic layer deposition (ALD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), sol-gel, electrospining, hydrothermal, electrophoretic deposition technique, dip-coating, vacuum filtration, solvent-casting method have been applied to modification and enhance separation and anti-fouling performance of polymers [28][29][30][31][32][33]. Following we briefly described some of these photocatalytic membranes and their preparation methods.…”