Publication

Advanced Redox Technology Lab

Journal papers

Highly reusable TiO2 nanoparticle photocatalyst by direct immobilization on steel mesh via PVDF coating, electrospraying, and thermal fixation
Author
S. Ramasundaram, M. G. Seid, J. W. Choe, E. -J. Kim, Y. C. Chung, K. Cho, C. Lee, S. W. Hong*
Journal
Chem. Eng. J
Issue / Vol
306
Date
2016.12.15
Year
2016

We have developed a highly reusable photocatalyst based on TiO2 nanoparticles for degrading organic pollutants in water. The particles were immobilized on steel mesh (SM) by a three-step procedure: (1) formation of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) binder interface by dip-coating SM (2.5 cm × 5.0 cm), (2) electrospraying of TiO2 nanoparticles dispersed in methanol (Degussa P25, 1 mg/mL), and (3) final thermal fixation with a pressure of 100 MPa for improved mechanical stability. When the electrosprayed volumes were 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 mL, the TiO2 loading on both sides of the PVDF-coated SM increased from 0.20, 0.43, 0.73, 0.97, 1.10, to 1.60 mg respectively. The SM sample loaded with 1.10 mg TiO2 (SM-TiO2) was found to be optimal for the photocatalytic oxidation of methylene blue (MB) under UV irradiation, with stable performance for 20 consecutive photocatalytic runs. The SM-TiO2 thermally fixed at 160 °C exhibited higher photocatalytic efficacy than those fixed at 180 and 200 °C, because at higher temperatures the melted PVDF resin layer (melting point: 165–172 °C) entrapped the TiO2 nanoparticles and rendered them photocatalytically inactive. The optimized SM-TiO2 demonstrated good performance on diverse organic pollutants, namely MB, methyl orange, reactive blue 4, sulfamethoxazole, and microcystin-LR, with rate constants of 0.0251, 0.0368, 0.0164, 0.0568, and 0.0725 min−1, respectively.


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