##manager.scheduler.building##: Institute of Energy & Environmental Engineering
##manager.scheduler.room##: Symposium 4. Hydrogen Energy and Catalysis:https://meet.google.com/rku-pcuo-buk
Date: 2020-12-22 02:30 PM – 02:45 PM
Last modified: 2020-12-21
Abstract
Textile sector is an immense producer of wastewater which is expelled to the environment causing deleterious effects on natural habitat. Among other chemical substances, dyes are major class of organic pollutants making the effluent strongly colored and high in toxicity. Addressing this issue in most effective and efficient way is a major challenge of modern times. Semiconductor-based heterogeneous photocatalysis is gaining importance as a promising technology powered by free and renewable solar energy for water detoxification application. Among various semiconductors Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) is most suitable and extensively used photocatalyst due to its remarkable features.
In this work, Nitrogen modified TiO2 nanoparticles were successfully prepared via Fast acid catalyzed sol-gel route with ammonia solution as a primary nitrogen precursor. The effect of amount of nitrogen was investigated by further incorporating secondary nitrogen in prepared sample with urea precursor by adopting wet impregnation approach. Pure TiO2 nanoparticles were also synthesized for comparison. Prepared photo-catalysts were characterized by Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, X-Ray Diffraction and Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopic analysis.
Laboratory test experiments on Rhodamine B (RhB) decomposition under artificial visible light (20W White LED) revealed the highest photocatalytic activity of catalyst doubly doped with ammonia solution and urea whereas pure TiO2 showed poor activity under visible light illumination. The effect of catalyst dose, solution pH and substrate concentration on photocatalytic efficiency was evaluated to obtain optimal conditions. Degradation of dye under natural sunlight irradiation was also examined and the results showed remarkable photocatalytic performance of doubly-doped photo-catalyst with 99.9% decolorization.