Abstract
In recent years, much attention has been paid to "Photocatalytic oxidation" as an alternative technique, where the pollutants are degraded by UV-irradiation in the presence of a semiconductor suspension such as titanium dioxide. $TiO_2$ is the most often used photocatalyst due to its considerable photocatalytic activity, high stability, non-environmental impact and low cost. 1n this research, the photocatalytic degradation of humic acid, acetaldehyde and methylene blue in $UV/TiO_2$ systems has been stydied. The effect of calcination temperature for manufacturing of $TiO_2$ photocatalysts and type of photocatalysts on photodegradation has been investigated. Photocatalysts with various metal ions(Mn, Fe, Cu and Pt) loading are tested to evaluate the effects of metal ions impurities on photodegradation. The photodegradation efficiency with $Pt-TiO_2$ or $Fe-TiO_2$ or $Cu-TiO_2$ is higher than Degussa P-25 powder. However, the photodegradation efficiency with $Mn-TiO_2$ is lower than Degussa P-25 powder. The photocatalytic properties of the nanocrystals were strongly dependent upon the crystallinity, particle size, standard reduction potential of various transition metal and electronegativity of various transition metal. As a result photocatalysts with various metal ion loading evaluated the effect of photodegradation.