Metal-promoted titania photocatalysis for destruction of nitrates and organics from aqueous environments

James A Anderson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)
21 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This review article provides an overview of activities in the rapidly developing field of water purification via photocatalytic methods and focuses on the removal of nitrate ions with simultaneous removal of the hole scavenger. While many of the issues associated with provision of potable water in the developing world may be resolved by the use of simple physical methodologies such as filtration, many of the issues associated with water purity in the developed world involve complex, stable molecules present at low concentrations but none the less capable of producing toxic effects in plants and animals and which require more demanding removal technologies. Photocatalytic methods can be operated remotely and often show minimal production of undesired side products. Titania alone shows limitations, not only in terms of the slow rate of photoreduction of nitrate but also in terms of selectivity and the need to employ radiation in the UV region due to the magnitude of the band gap. Key challenges may be defined as: reduce band gap/increase absorption in visible region, enhance adsorption capacity/access to surface sites, and reduce rate of hole/electron recombination. The present article will focus on the use of titania based materials which involve metal-co-catalysts for nitrate reduction.
Original languageEnglish
Article number20170060
Pages (from-to)1-14
Number of pages14
JournalPhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A
Volume376
Issue number2110
Early online date24 Nov 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 13 Jan 2018

Keywords

  • photocatalysis
  • nitrate
  • metal co-catalysts
  • titania

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