TiO2 Nanotubes Supported Cu Nanoparticles for Improving Photocatalytic Degradation of Simazine under UV Illumination

Abstract

Nano size Copper (Cu) incorporated TiO 2 nanotubes was successfully synthesized via the anodic oxidation technique in ethylene glycol (EG) containing 0.5 wt % NH 4 F and 1.6 wt % KOH for the photocatalytic degradation of Simazine (2-chloro-4, 6-diethylamino-1,3,5-triazine) under Ultraviolet (UV) illumination. In the present study, the influence of different loading Cu concentrations on the formation of Cu-TiO 2 nanotubes film towards the photocatalytic degradation of Simazine is reported. Based on our study, it was found that the optimum Cu loading concentration was about 0.45 wt % on TiO 2 nanotubes film for approximately 64% photocatalytic degradation of Simazine after 4 h under UV illumination. This finding was mainly attributed to the uniform surface covering of the Cu loaded TiO 2 NTs which acted as electron traps, preventing the recombination of electron hole pairs, eventually leading to higher photocatalytic activity of our photocatalyst in degrading the targeted organic pollutant, Simazine. Moreover, an increased kinetic rate of the degradation to 0.0135 h −1 was observed in the presence of Cu in TiO 2 NTs.

Degradation of Acid Orange 7 Azo Dye in Aqueous Solution by a Catalytic-Assisted, Non-Thermal Plasma Process

“…Degradation efficiency (%) = 1 − C C 0 × 100 (12) Mineralization efficiency (%) = 1 − TOC TOC 0 × 100 (13) where: C = dye concentration at the generic treatment time (mg/L); C 0 = initial dye concentration (mg/L); TOC = total organic carbon at the generic treatment time (mg/L); TOC 0 = initial total organic carbon (mg/L). In addition, liquid chromatography analysis was performed to evaluate the presence of by-products.…”

Continuous-Flow Photocatalytic Degradation of Organics Using Modified TiO2 Nanocomposites

“…TiO 2 nanotubes (TNTs) synthesized via anodization have generated significant attention in recent years [1,2] because of their extraordinarily technological importance and improved photoelectric properties for a wide variety of applications such as solar cells [3], photocatalysis [4], gas sensors [5,6], water splitting [7,8], and developing functional surface devices [9]. Moreover, TiO 2 decorated with reduced graphene oxide (RGO) [10], graphene oxide (GO) [11,12], and bismuth (Bi) [13] have been widely investigated owing to their lack of toxicity, high chemical stability, and capability of photooxidative destruction of most organic pollutants [14].…”