Development of Titanium Dioxide (TiO₂)-Embedded Buoyant Photocatalyst Balls Using Expanded Polystyrene

Removal of pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) from real membrane bioreactor (MBR) effluents by photocatalytic degradation using composite Ag2O/P-25 photocatalyst

“…Heterogeneous UV/ TiO2 photocatalysis has become the most attractive AOP to remove varieties of organic pollutants from water and wastewater [16]. In heterogeneous UV/ TiO2 photocatalysis, upon irradiation of TiO2 semiconductor by UV -vis light, an electron (e -) is promoted to the conduction band and a hole ( h + ) is generated on the valence band site vacated by the electron, thereby forming highly reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as hydroxyl ( • OH) and superoxide ( • O2 -) radicals [21,[23][24][25]. Therefore, heterogeneous photocatalysis is based on the chemistry of photo-generated h + and/or the • OH, which promotes nonselective oxidation of pollutants [3,26].…”

“…Many studies have suggested that fine particles of transition metals or their oxides dispersed on the surface of photocatalyst matrix could act as electron traps, which effectively reduces the combination of charge carriers and improves photocatalytic activity [22,29,30]. Ag2O nanoparticles doped on TiO2 particles can enhance the optical absorption spectrum and lattice structural stability of TiO2, improving photocatalytic degradation of hazardous pollutants under UV-vis light irradiation [21,23,31]. Indeed, Ag2O is a proven photocatalyst for the degradation of organic pollutants under visible light irradiation having a narrow band gap of 1.2 eV [32].…”