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Enhancing the visible-light photoactivity of silica-supported TiO2 for the photocatalytic treatment of pharmaceuticals in water

  • Occurrence, Impact and Elimination of Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs) in Soil, Water and Air Streams: Advances and Challenges in Ibero-American Countries
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Abstract

Catalyst samples based on SiO2-supported TiO2 were prepared with the incorporation of Ag (metal), S (nonmetal), and ZnO@S (semiconductor and nonmetal). The materials were evaluated regarding their morphological, optical, and crystalline properties as well as their photoactivity under visible and ultraviolet light toward the degradation rate of a model emerging pollutant, acetaminophen (ACT). All modified materials exhibited improved performance over the undoped catalyst. The Ag-doped catalyst achieved the largest degradation under visible radiation (about 30% in 120 min), whereas under ultraviolet irradiation, the ZnO@S-doped sample exhibited the best performance (about 62% in 120 min). A Doehlert design was carried out to evaluate the influence of pH and temperature on the photoactivity of Ag-TiO2/SiO2. In addition, the role of each reactive species in the photodegradation reaction was investigated by radical scavenger experiments, and the superoxide radical anion O2•− was shown to be the predominant reactive species. The stability of the Ag-TiO2/SiO2 material under ultraviolet and visible light was confirmed after five successive operation cycles, showing a reasonable (about 50%) loss of activity under visible irradiation and a slight improvement (about 13%) under UV light, as a result of the photo-reduction of Ag+. Lastly, the effect of the initial pollutant concentration showed that ACT degradation using Ag-TiO2/SiO2 follows the Langmuir-Hinshelwood kinetics, with intrinsic reaction rate k = 2.71 × 10−4 mmol L−1 min−1 under visible-light radiation.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES)– Finance Code 001. The authors also express their gratitude to the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq, Brazil, grant # 311230/2020-2) and to the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP, grants # 2016/00953-6 and # 2018/21271-6) for the financial support.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information file.

Funding

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES - Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel) – Finance Code 001, National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq, grant #311230/2020-2), and the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP, grant #2018/21271-6).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Group in Advanced Oxidation Processes (AdOx), Department of Chemical Engineering, Escola Politécnica, University of São Paulo, Av. Prof. Luciano Gualberto, tr. 3, São Paulo, SP, 380, Brazil

    Carolina de Araújo Gusmão, Priscila Hasse Palharim, Bruno Ramos & Antonio Carlos Silva Costa Teixeira

  2. Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Escola Politécnica, University of São Paulo, Av. Prof. Luciano Gualberto, tr. 3, São Paulo, SP, 380, Brazil

    Bruno Ramos

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  1. Carolina de Araújo Gusmão
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  2. Priscila Hasse Palharim
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  3. Bruno Ramos
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  4. Antonio Carlos Silva Costa Teixeira
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Contributions

CAG: Conceptualization, methodology, validation, formal analysis, investigation, writing—original draft, visualization.

PHP: Methodology, validation, formal analysis, investigation, writing—original draft, visualization.

BR: Formal analysis, investigation, writing—original draft, visualization.

ACSCT: Conceptualization, validation, resources, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing, supervision, funding acquisition.

All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Carolina de Araújo Gusmão.

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de Araújo Gusmão, C., Palharim, P.H., Ramos, B. et al. Enhancing the visible-light photoactivity of silica-supported TiO2 for the photocatalytic treatment of pharmaceuticals in water. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 42215–42230 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16718-w

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