The reaction mechanism of photoelectrocatalysis on the surface of TiO₂ nanotube array electrode

Abstract

TiO2 nanotube array (TNA) electrode materials can effectively degrade organic compounds by photoelectrocatalysis. In this study, the depletion oxidation reaction in thin‐layer reactor was adopted, and the reaction characteristic and reaction mechanism of photoelectrocatalytic degradation of different types of organic pollutants by TNA electrode prepared by anodizing technology were studied. Moreover, the effective way to improve the photoelectrocatalytic degradation of organic compounds was discussed. Easily degradable glucose and hardly degradable succinic acid and phthalate were taken as the model compounds. The change characteristics of photocurrent reaction time of organic compounds in TNA photocatalysis thin‐layer reactor were analyzed. The I–t curve could reflect the change of reaction rate of organic compounds on TNA electrode surface. The influence of reactor volume and other parameters on the performance of organic photoelectrocatalysis was investigated. With the increase of the thickness of liquid layer in reactor, the reaction time of exhaustion oxidation of organic compounds increases correspondingly. The mechanism of synergetic photocatalysis was researched. In fact, the glucose contained many hydroxyl functional groups. Then, a large number of radicals were formed by photocatalysis, thus promoting the photocatalytic degradation of hardly degradable organic compounds.

Prospects of TiO2-based photocatalytic degradation of microplastic leachates related disposable facemask, a major COVID-19 waste

“…When exposed to UV radiation, an electron in the VB gets excited and transfers to the CB (Figure 4). Electrons can migrate to or from the adsorbent, resulting in positively or negatively charged and Hammer, 2011;Li, 2020;Nabi et al, 2021). For PCD, anatase and rutile forms of TiO 2 are often used.…”