PEROVSKITE-BASED FILM ELECTRODES FOR WATER PURIFICATION WITH SOLAR ENERGY
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Date
2023-10-08
Authors
Tamara Basem Qasem Zorba
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Abstract
Drinking water contamination with various materials, including organic compounds and dyes, is a major global challenge. It is essential to reclaim contaminated water by safe, practical and affordable methods. There are many methods, among which photocatalytic degradation of organic contaminants is a new and effective strategy. In photodegradation, people normally use nanoparticles of semiconducting metal oxide materials, with wide band gaps. These materials showed efficiency to use the UV fraction (5%) of the oncoming solar radiations. However, the nanoparticles are difficult to isolate from the water after treatment. In this study, new methods are described to find solutions to this technical difficulty. Two perovskites, manganese titanate (MnTiO3) and zinc titanate (ZnTiO3) were prepared as nano-powders and glass-supported nano-films and characterized by XRD, SEM, XPS, SEM and others. The materials were then used as catalysts in photodegradation of methylene blue (a model dye contaminant) in water under solar simulated radiations. The effect of different reaction conditions on the photodegradation process was investigated to examine performances of both catalysts in their powder and film forms. Batch and continuous flow reactions were investigated using the film form to examine the suitability of the process at future commercial scales. The findings demonstrate the contaminant was eliminated and completely mineralized in less than six hours using both powder and film catalysts. The films demonstrated greater catalytic effectiveness than the powders in both perovskite mixtures. The MnTiO3 system showed higher efficiency than the ZnTiO3 in both powder and film forms. Both batch and continuous flow reactions showed similar efficiency in methylene blue removal by catalysts film forms of each perovskite. Water contaminated with different concentrations of methylene blue can be treated with both perovskite catalyst systems, but to avoid catalysts separation difficulties, using the film forms is strongly recommended. The results confirm the potential for using both perovskite catalysts at larger-scale water purification in the future, as both exhibited high efficiency especially in the continuous flow process.
Keywords: Zinc titanate; manganese titanate; methylene blue photodegradation; solar simulated radiation