A series of activated carbons was used to investigate the photochemical behaviour of carbons under UV light as catalysts in the photo-oxidation of phenol in the absence of semiconductor additives. Conventional photocatalytic tests showed an improved photo-oxidation in the presence of activated carbons, beyond the so-called synergistic effect reported in the literature for carbon/titania composites. A novel approach based on UV irradiation of carbons preloaded with phenol was used to demonstrate the anomalous photochemical response of carbon materials towards phenol degradation. Analysis of the catalytic reaction from a different standpoint (inside the carbonaceous matrix) demonstrated the catalytic activity of certain carbon materials for phenol photodegradation, without considering photolytic breakdown and adsorption kinetics. The pseudo photochemical quantum yield of several activated carbons was higher than that of photolysis under the same conditions; the nature of the degradation intermediates was also modified in the presence of the carbon materials. Moreover, the degradation of the adsorbed fraction retained inside the pore structure of the carbons has been demonstrated. Our results suggest the occurrence of carbon-photon interactions which could be propagated through the graphene sheets of the materials, and could reach the adsorbed molecules inside the pores.
In this work we have investigated the role of a porous carbon material used as photocatalyst itself, and catalyst support in a carbon/titania composite towards the photodegradation of phenol, and compared the results to that of bare titanium oxide. The immobilization of titania on an activated carbon provoked an acceleration of the degradation rate under UV irradiation, which is likely attributed to the porosity of the carbon support. The identification of the degradation intermediates detected in the solution showed that the presence of the carbon support affects the nature of phenol degradation mechanism through the formation of different intermediates. Additionally, phenol photodecomposition rate over the carbon support outperformed that attained in the carbon/titania composite, suggesting an important self-photoactivity of the carbon support.
Dynamic water vapor sorption (DVS) may be used to characterize the pore structure of cementitious materials, but the technique is difficult to interpret as the microstructure is very sensitive to drying and rehydration due to humidity exposure. The removal of interlayer water or chemically bound water can cause microstructural shrinkage. As all drying techniques more or less dehydrate C-S-H and ettringite, they cause a restructuration of the C-S-H. In the present paper, DVS measurements were performed to characterize the changes induced by different drying techniques in the textural and sorption properties of the material, while thermogravimetric analysis was used to elucidate carbonation. The ideal drying technique, which can preserve the microstructure and can remove only the non-bound water, does unfortunately not exist. All drying techniques separately affect the microstructure to some extent. However, these changes are minimized when using vacuum-drying and the solvent-exchange-method with isopropanol as drying techniques.
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