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Advanced Photocatalytic Materials for Water Treatment

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Catalytic Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 April 2022) | Viewed by 15337

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Guest Editor
Hydro-Chemistry and Water Research Center, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel
Interests: identifying the fate and transport mechanisms of pharmaceuticals and degradation by-products in domestic; industrial and hospital wastewater; effluents and biosolids; industrial fish ponds, effluent irrigated fields, river streams and groundwater; technology development for water treatment and purification via Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) for removal of pharmaceutical compounds from wastewater effluent
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, photocatalytic processes have shown great potential as a low-cost, environmental friendly and sustainable treatment technology to align with the "zero" waste scheme in the water/wastewater industry. This advanced oxidation technology has been widely demonstrated to remove persistent organic compounds and microorganisms in water. At present, the main technical barriers that block its commercialization remain on the post-recovery of the catalyst particles after water treatment.

This Special Issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944) on "Advanced Photocatalytic Materials for Water Treatment” will deliver a scientific and technical overview and useful information to scientists and engineers who work in this field. It aims to focus on the recent progress in development, of engineered photocatalysts, photocatalytic membrane reactor optimizations, and modellings of the photooxidation processes for water treatment. Submitted manuscripts may cover all aspects, ranging from investigations into material characterization to both photo-mineralization and photo-disinfection kinetics and their modellings associated with the photocatalytic water treatment process.

We invite all colleagues to submit manuscripts (full papers, reviews or notes) in open access to this Special Issue. We encourage you to disseminate this invitation to any colleagues who may be interested.

Prof. Dr. Dror Avisar
Guest Editor

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

  • photo-oxidation processes
  • photocatalytic materials
  • water treatment
  • photocatalytic membrane reactors

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 2910 KiB  
Article
Facile Synthesis with TiO2 Xerogel and Urea Enhanced Aniline Aerofloat Degradation Performance of Direct Z-Scheme Heterojunction TiO2/g-C3N4 Composite
by Sipin Zhu, Zhiyong Chen, Chunying Wang, Jiahao Pan and Xianping Luo
Materials 2022, 15(10), 3613; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15103613 - 18 May 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2158
Abstract
Different TiO2/g-C3N4 (TCN) composites were synthesized by a simple pyrolysis method with TiO2 xerogel and urea. The structure and physicochemical properties of TCN were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance [...] Read more.
Different TiO2/g-C3N4 (TCN) composites were synthesized by a simple pyrolysis method with TiO2 xerogel and urea. The structure and physicochemical properties of TCN were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectrum, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, N2-adsorption isotherms and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Aniline Aerofloat was chosen as a typical degradation-resistant contaminant to investigate the photodegradation activity of TCN under UV irradiation. The results indicated that TCN had higher light absorption intensity, larger specific surface area and smaller particle size compared to pure TiO2. Furthermore, TCN had great recycling photocatalytic stability for the photodegradation of Aniline Aerofloat. The photocatalytic activity depends on the synergistic reaction between holes (h+) and hydroxyl radicals (·OH). Meanwhile, the direct Z-scheme heterojunction structure of TiO2 and g-C3N4 postpones the recombination of h+ and electrons to enhance UV-light photocatalytic activity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Photocatalytic Materials for Water Treatment)
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12 pages, 1869 KiB  
Article
UV-LED Combined with Small Bioreactor Platform (SBP) for Degradation of 17α-Ethynylestradiol (EE2) at Very Short Hydraulic Retention Time
by Oran Fradkin, Hadas Mamane, Aviv Kaplan, Ofir Menashe, Eyal Kurzbaum, Yifaat Betzalel and Dror Avisar
Materials 2021, 14(20), 5960; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14205960 - 11 Oct 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1957
Abstract
Degradation of 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE2) and estrogenicity were examined in a novel oxidative bioreactor (OBR) that combines small bioreactor platform (SBP) capsules and UV-LED (ultraviolet light emission diode) simultaneously, using enriched water and secondary effluent. Preliminary experiments examined three UV-LED wavelengths—267, 279, and 286 [...] Read more.
Degradation of 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE2) and estrogenicity were examined in a novel oxidative bioreactor (OBR) that combines small bioreactor platform (SBP) capsules and UV-LED (ultraviolet light emission diode) simultaneously, using enriched water and secondary effluent. Preliminary experiments examined three UV-LED wavelengths—267, 279, and 286 nm, with (indirect photolysis) and without (direct photolysis) H2O2. The major degradation wavelength for both direct and indirect photolysis was 279 nm, while the major removal gap for direct vs. indirect degradation was at 267 nm. Reduction of EE2 was observed together with reduction of estrogenicity and mineralization, indicating that the EE2 degradation products are not estrogens. Furthermore, slight mineralization occurred with direct photolysis and more significant mineralization with the indirect process. The physical–biological OBR process showed major improvement over other processes studied here, at a very short hydraulic retention time. The OBR can feasibly replace the advanced oxidation process of UV-LED radiation with catalyst in secondary sedimentation tanks with respect to reduction ratio, and with no residual H2O2. Further research into this OBR system is warranted, not only for EE2 degradation, but also to determine its capabilities for degrading mixtures of pharmaceuticals and pesticides, both of which have a significant impact on the environment and public health. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Photocatalytic Materials for Water Treatment)
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35 pages, 6104 KiB  
Article
Removal of Aniline and Benzothiazole Wastewaters Using an Efficient MnO2/GAC Catalyst in a Photocatalytic Fluidised Bed Reactor
by Cristian Ferreiro, Natalia Villota, José Ignacio Lombraña, María J. Rivero, Verónica Zúñiga and José Miguel Rituerto
Materials 2021, 14(18), 5207; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14185207 - 10 Sep 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3040
Abstract
This work presents an efficient method for treating industrial wastewater containing aniline and benzothiazole, which are refractory to conventional treatments. A combination of heterogeneous photocatalysis operating in a fluidised bed reactor is studied in order to increase mass transfer and reduce reaction times. [...] Read more.
This work presents an efficient method for treating industrial wastewater containing aniline and benzothiazole, which are refractory to conventional treatments. A combination of heterogeneous photocatalysis operating in a fluidised bed reactor is studied in order to increase mass transfer and reduce reaction times. This process uses a manganese dioxide catalyst supported on granular activated carbon with environmentally friendly characteristics. The manganese dioxide composite is prepared by hydrothermal synthesis on carbon Hydrodarco® 3000 with different active phase ratios. The support, the metal oxide, and the composite are characterised by performing Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller analysis, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, X-ray fluorescence analysis, UV–Vis spectroscopy by diffuse reflectance, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in order to evaluate the influence of the metal oxide on the activated carbon. A composite of MnO2/GAC (3.78% in phase α-MnO2) is obtained, with a 9.4% increase in the specific surface of the initial GAC and a 12.79 nm crystal size. The effect of pH and catalyst load is studied. At a pH of 9.0 and a dose of 0.9 g L−1, a high degradation of aniline and benzothiazole is obtained, with an 81.63% TOC mineralisation in 64.8 min. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Photocatalytic Materials for Water Treatment)
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16 pages, 6026 KiB  
Article
Construction of TiO2-Eggshell for Efficient Degradation of Tetracycline Hydrochloride: Sunlight Induced In-Situ Formation of Carbonate Radical
by Zhuquan Huang, Jiaqi Wang, Min-Quan Yang, Qingrong Qian, Xin-Ping Liu, Liren Xiao and Hun Xue
Materials 2021, 14(7), 1598; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14071598 - 25 Mar 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2397
Abstract
Photocatalytic degradation of an antibiotic by utilizing inexhaustible solar energy represents an ideal solution for tackling global environment issues. The target generation of active oxidative species is highly desirable for the photocatalytic pollutants degradation. Herein, aiming at the molecular structure of tetracycline hydrochloride [...] Read more.
Photocatalytic degradation of an antibiotic by utilizing inexhaustible solar energy represents an ideal solution for tackling global environment issues. The target generation of active oxidative species is highly desirable for the photocatalytic pollutants degradation. Herein, aiming at the molecular structure of tetracycline hydrochloride (TC), we construct sunlight-activated high-efficient catalysts of TiO2-eggshell (TE). The composite ingeniously utilizes the photoactive function of TiO2 and the composition of eggshell, which can produce oxidative ·CO3 species that are especially active for the degradation of aromatic compounds containing phenol or aniline structures. Through the synergistic oxidation of the··CO3 with the traditional holes (h+), superoxide radicals (·O2−) and hydroxyl radicals (·OH) involved in the photocatalytic process, the optimal TE photocatalyst degrades 92.0% TC in 30 min under solar light, which is higher than TiO2 and eggshell. The photocatalytic degradation pathway of TC over TE has been proposed. The response surface methodology is processed by varying four independent parameters (TC concentration, pH, catalyst dosage and reaction time) on a Box–Behnken design (BBD) to optimize the experimental conditions. It is anticipated that the present work can facilitate the development of novel photocatalysts for selective oxidation based on ·CO3. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Photocatalytic Materials for Water Treatment)
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16 pages, 6190 KiB  
Article
Facile Synthesis of g-C3N4/TiO2/Hectorite Z-Scheme Composite and Its Visible Photocatalytic Degradation of Rhodamine B
by Rong You, Jinyang Chen, Menghan Hong, Jinrui Li and Xiaomin Hong
Materials 2020, 13(22), 5304; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13225304 - 23 Nov 2020
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2772
Abstract
A novel g-C3N4/TiO2/hectorite Z-scheme composites with oxygen vacancy (Vo) defects and Ti3+ were synthesized by so-gel method and high temperature solid phase reaction. This composite exhibited high visible photo-catalytic degradation of rhodamine B (RhB). The apparent [...] Read more.
A novel g-C3N4/TiO2/hectorite Z-scheme composites with oxygen vacancy (Vo) defects and Ti3+ were synthesized by so-gel method and high temperature solid phase reaction. This composite exhibited high visible photo-catalytic degradation of rhodamine B (RhB). The apparent rate constant of g-C3N4/TiO2/hectorite was 0.01705 min−1, which is approximately 5.38 and 4.88 times that of P25 and g-C3N4, respectively. The enhancement of photo-catalytic efficiency of the composites can be attributed to the great light harvesting ability, high specific surface area and effective separation of electrons(e) and holes(h+). The F element from Hectorite causes the formation of Vo and Ti3+ in TiO2, making it responsive to visible light. The effective separation of e and h+ mainly results from Z-scheme transfer of photo-produced electrons in g-C3N4/TiO2 interface. The composites can be easily recycled and the degradation rate of the RhB still reached 84% after five cycles, indicating its good reusability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Photocatalytic Materials for Water Treatment)
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14 pages, 2075 KiB  
Article
Cost-Effective Production of TiO2 with 90-Fold Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity Via Facile Sequential Calcination and Ball Milling Post-Treatment Strategy
by Anantha-Iyengar Gopalan, Jun-Cheol Lee, Gopalan Saianand, Kwang-Pill Lee, Woo-Young Chun, Yao-long Hou, Venkatramanan Kannan, Sung-Sik Park and Wha-Jung Kim
Materials 2020, 13(22), 5072; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13225072 - 10 Nov 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2181
Abstract
Titanium dioxide (TiO2), the golden standard among the photocatalysts, exhibits a varying level of photocatalytic activities (PCA) amongst the synthetically prepared and commercially available products. For commercial applications, superior photoactivity and cost-effectiveness are the two main factors to be reckoned with. [...] Read more.
Titanium dioxide (TiO2), the golden standard among the photocatalysts, exhibits a varying level of photocatalytic activities (PCA) amongst the synthetically prepared and commercially available products. For commercial applications, superior photoactivity and cost-effectiveness are the two main factors to be reckoned with. This study presents the development of simple, cost-effective post-treatment processes for a less costly TiO2 to significantly enhance the PCA to the level of expensive commercial TiO2 having demonstrated superior photoactivities. We have utilized sequential calcination and ball milling (BM) post-treatment processes on a less-costlier KA100 TiO2 and demonstrated multi-fold (nearly 90 times) enhancement in PCA. The post-treated KA100 samples along with reference commercial samples (P25, NP400, and ST01) were well-characterized by appropriate instrumentation and evaluated for the PCA considering acetaldehyde photodegradation as the model reaction. Lattice parameters, phase composition, crystallite size, surface functionalities, titanium, and oxygen electronic environments were evaluated. Among post-treated KA100, the sample that is subjected to sequential 700 °C calcination and BM (KA7-BM) processes exhibited 90-fold PCA enhancement over pristine KA100 and the PCA-like commercial NP400 (pure anatase-based TiO2). Based on our results, we attribute the superior PCA for KA7-BM due to the smaller crystallite size, the co-existence of mixed anatase-srilankite-rutile phases, and the consequent multiphase heterojunction formation, higher surface area, lattice disorder/strain generation, and surface oxygen environment. The present work demonstrates a feasible potential for the developed post-treatment strategy towards commercial prospects. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Photocatalytic Materials for Water Treatment)
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