Annihilation of electrons-holes recombination process is the main remedy to enhance the photocatalytic activity of the semiconductors photocatalysts. Doping of this class of photocatalysts by foreign nanoparticles is usually utilized to create high Schottky barrier that facilitates electron capture. In the literature, because nonpolar nanoparticles (usually pristine metals, e.g., Ag, Pt, Au, etc.) were utilized in the doping process, the corresponding improvement was relatively low. In this study, CdSO4-doped TiO2 nanoparticles are introduced as a powerful and reusable photocatalyst for the photocatalytic degradation of methomyl pesticide in concentrated aqueous solutions. The utilized CdSO4 nanoparticles form polar grains in the TiO2 matrix due to the electrons leaving characteristic of the sulfate anion. The introduced nanoparticles could successfully eliminate the harmful pesticide under the sunlight radiation within a very short time (less than 1 h), with a removal capacity reaching 1,000 mg pesticide per gram of the introduced photocatalyst. Moreover, increase in the initial concentration of the methomyl did not affect the photocatalytic performance; typically 300, 500, 1,000, and 2,000 mg/l solutions were completely treated within 30, 30, 40, and 60 min, respectively, using 100 mg catalyst. Interestingly, the photocatalytic efficiency was not affected upon multiple use of the photocatalyst. Moreover, negative activation energy was obtained which reveals super activity of the introduced photocatalyst. The distinct photocatalytic activity indicates the complete annihilation of the electrons-holes recombination process and abundant existence of electrons on the catalyst surfaces due to strong electrons capturing the operation of the utilized polar CdSO4 nanoparticles. The introduced photocatalyst has been prepared using the sol-gel technique. Overall, the simplicity of the synthesizing procedure and the obtained featured photocatalytic activity strongly recommend the introduced nanoparticles to treat the methomyl-containing polluted water.
The equilibrium adsorption of a herbicide (pendimethalin) onto natural clay from aqueous solutions was studied experimentally using different system variables. The influence of such variables, such as particle size (d p), pH and temperature, on the adsorption capacity was studied. Equilibrium modelling was carried out using the Langmuir, Freundlich and Redlich-Peterson models with the corresponding constants being calculated for the different system variables. The results indicate that the maximum adsorption capacity (q max) at an acidic pH value (3.44) was approximately double that observed at an alkaline pH value (9.62). It was also found that the effect of particle size was significant and that the temperature plays an interesting role in the adsorption process. The enthalpy change (∆H) for adsorption was evaluated as −29.36 kJ/mol. It is clear from the results of this study that the Freundlich model fitted the experimental adsorption data significantly better than the Langmuir or the Redlich−Peterson models.
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