Photocatalytic degradation of the herbicide chloridazon on mesoporous titania/zirconia nanopowders

Abstract

Advanced oxidation processes using semiconducting photocatalysts for the degradation of organic pollutants are a promising approach for the remediation of pesticide-contaminated wastewater. High photodegradation efficiency and stability of the photocatalyst are of key importance for practical application of the semiconductor. In this study, mesoporous TiO/ZrO nanopowders were synthesized via two techniques; evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) and sol-gel using triblock copolymers Pluronic P123 and F127. The photodegradation activities of the composites were determined by employing the herbicide chloridazon as a model compound. Due to well-developed mesoporosity, the TiO/ZrO nanocomposite synthesized by EISA displays high surface area and small crystallite sizes leading to higher photocatalytic activity than pristine TiO prepared under similar condition and commercial Degussa P25 nanopowder. The optimum amount of zirconium required for the highest activities was identified and found to be 0.14 and 0.05 mol% for the EISA and sol-gel-prepared samples, respectively. Systematic studies of the post-thermal treatment step for both samples show that Zr inhibits an anatase-to-rutile phase transition only up to 600 °C, at higher temperature phase separation occurs. Samples synthesized by EISA method showed enhanced degradation activity than sol-gel-synthesized samples.

Current Trends in the Application of Nanomaterials for the Removal of Emerging Micropollutants and Pathogens from Water

“…The degradation of chloridazon on the surface of UV-irradiated Zr-loaded TiO 2 was investigated. Mesoporous TiO 2 /ZrO 2 nanopowders prepared by the evaporation-induced self-assembly route were found to be more active than P25 TiO 2 [112].…”

Kinetics of Rifampicin Antibiotic Degradation Using Green Synthesized Iron Oxide Nanoparticles

“…Different metal oxide nanoparticles such as titanium, iron, platinum, zinc and zirconium have been employed successfully as semiconductor photo catalysts in the removal of pharmaceuticals through filtration, adsorption, photo catalysis and Fenton methods with hydrogen peroxide as an oxidizing agent which generates hydroxyl radicals which attack and oxidize the organic pollutants (Bhamare & Kulkarni, 2019;W. Cai, Weng, & Chen, 2019;Das et al, 2018;De Andrade, Oliveira, Da Silva, & Vieira, 2018;Demirezen et al, 2019;Kansal et al, 2014;Malakootian, Nasiri, & Amiri Gharaghani, 2020;Mbiri et al, 2018;Teixeira et al, 2016). Barium Doped zinc oxide nanoparticles were used by Bhamare and Kulkarni to photo catalytically degrade Zidovudine an antiretroviral agent for AIDs which was dependent on the amount of the catalyst (Bhamare & Kulkarni, 2019).…”

Construction of Superhydrophobic Ru/TiCeOx Catalysts for the Enhanced Water Resistance of o-Dichlorobenzene Catalytic Combustion

“…Match with the fresh catalyst, both Ru 3d 5/2 peaks of the u-Ru/TiCeO x -16Ph are displaced. Figure S1d shows the XPS of Ti 2p, and the binding energies of 458.7 ± 0.2 and 464.4 ± 0.2 eV are assigned to Ti 4+ on Ru/TiCeO x -XPh catalysts . Interestingly, the binding energies of Ti 4+ on the catalyst increase with the rise of the PhTES amount, which may be owing to the masking effect of PhTES.…”