Photocatalytic paper from colloidal TiO2—fact or fantasy

Photocatalytic paper using zinc oxide nanorods

“…Pozzo et al [7] have also discussed the importance of catalyst supports and opined that there is an inverse relationship between the adhesion of a catalyst to a support and its photocatalytic activity. There are only a few reports (including patents) on the use of paper as a catalyst support [1,4,8,9].…”

“…Paper is coated with different compounds to impart qualities like improved surface gloss and smoothness or lower ink absorbency. Photocatalytic paper is a type of specialty paper that was developed to degrade organic pollutants and immobilize microbes [1]. This type of antimicrobial and antifouling paper can have wide applications in health-related activities.…”

On-Paper Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles for Antibacterial Applications

“…Immobilization of photoactive TiO 2 NPs on cellulose fibers has been investigated for preparation of self-cleaning paper (Pelton et al, 2006), which has a variety of potential applications such as food packaging. A simple method for immobilizing metal NPs on fibers by using charged polymers has been proposed (Dubas et al, 2006;Pelton et al, 2006). However, these approaches sometimes bring about fatal aggregation of metal NPs: excessive aggregation drastically decreases their specific surface area, resulting in insufficient functionality.…”

Fotoeletrodegradação do corante AO7 utilizando filmes de nanocompósitos de ZnO-TiO2

“…22 Este tipo de processo baseia-se, de modo geral, na irradiação de um material semicondutor por fotóns, suficientemente energéticos, que permitam a passagem de elétrons da banda de valência para a banda de condução (e -BC ), criando lacunas carregadas positivamente (h + BV ) na banda de valência. [23][24][25] Desta forma, os compostos orgânicos poderão ser degradados pelos radicais hidroxila formados através da reação da lacuna fotogerada com a água adsorvida à superfície do semicondutor 26 e/ou da reação dos elétrons fotoinjetados com o O 2 que formará um ânion radical superóxida, que irá sofrer reações sucessivas até a formação de radicais hidroxila. 24,27 A aplicação de uma densidade de corrente ou de um potencial anódico constante ao fotoânodo, através de um circuito externo, irá permitir a fotogeração de elétrons que serão continuamente extraídos do fotoânodo, melhorando a eficiência do processo.…”