• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.170-175
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• 2005

In this study, mercury was removed by $TiO_2$ using fluorescent light and sunlight, instead of UV lamps. A reactor was specially designed to increase the $TiO_2's$ exposure to the light source and to make the rotational speed constant. The contacting surface area between mercury and adsorbents was increased by packing the adsorption bed with mixture of $TiO_2$ and glass beads. The mercury removal efficiency was more than 99% under all light sources tested in this study. The mercury removal efficiency was more than 99% under the fluorescent light or sunlight which is harmless and cheap or free.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.344-350
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• 2010

The improved photocatalytic performance of a carbon/$TiO_2$ composite was studied for the Bisphenol A (BPA) decomposition. Titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) and a rice husk from Korea were heterogeneously mixed as the titanium and carbon sources, respectively, for 3 h at room temperature, and then thermally treated at $600^{\circ}C$ for 1 h in $H_2$ gas. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images revealed that the bulk carbon partially covered the $TiO_2$ particles, and the amount that was covered increased with the addition of the rice husk. The acquired carbon/$TiO_2$ composite exhibited an anatase structure and a novel peak at $2{\theta}=32^{\circ}$, which was assigned to bulk carbon. The specific surface area was significantly enhanced to 123~164 $m^2/g$ in the carbon/$TiO_2$ composite, compared to $32.43m^2/g$ for the pure $TiO_2$. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results showed that the Ti-O bond was weaker in the carbon/$TiO_2$ composite than in the pure $TiO_2$, resulting in an easier electron transition from the Ti valence band to the conduction band. The carbon/$TiO_2$ composite absorbed over the whole UV-visible range, whereas the absorption band in the pure$TiO_2$ was only observed in the UV range. These results agreed well with an electrostatic force microscopy (EFM) study that showed that the electrons were rapidly transferred to the surface of the carbon/$TiO_2$ composite compared to the pure $TiO_2$. The photocatalytic performance of the BPA removal was optimized at a Ti:C ratio of 9.5:0.5, and this photocatalytic composite completely decomposed 10.0 ppm BPA after 210 min, whereas the pure $TiO_2$ achieved no more than 50% decomposition under any conditions.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.264-269
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• 2000

TiO$_2$thin films were prepared on the glass by a conventional spin coating method with $TiO_2$ sol(30wt%, anatase). The thickness of the thin films were controlled by the number of coating cycles: one cycle is composed of spin coating, drying, and heating process. The reaction rate of the film was obtained by the photodecomposition of gaseous benzene under 0.44 and 2.0mW/$\textrm{cm}^2$ UV light on the film surface. For an incident UV light intensity of 0.44mW/$\textrm{cm}^2$, the reaction rate was increased with the thickness of the film, caused by extent of surface area, but there was no change over the thickness of about 4$\mu\textrm{m}$. The porous $TiO_2$ thin film has comparatively vast effective surface area, which under relatively high-intensity UV illumination causes the reaction rate to be controlled by the film thickness.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.84-91
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• 2005

$TiO_2-catalyst$ suspensions work efficiently in Photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) for wastewater treatment. Nevertheless, once photocatalysis is completed, separation of the catalyst from solution becomes the main problem. The PCO of Cu(II)-EDTA was studied to determine the reusability of the titanium dioxide catalyst. Aqueous solutions of $10^{-4}M$ Cu(II)-EDTA were treated using illuminated $TiO_2$ particles at pH 6 in a circulating reactor. $TiO_2$ was reused in PCO system for treatment of Cu(II)-EDTA comparing two procedures: reuse of water and $TiO_2$ and reuse of the entire suspension after PCO of Cu(II)-EDTA. The results are as follows; (i) Photocatalytic efficiency worsens with successive runs when catalyst and water are reused without separation and filtration, whereas, when $TiO_2$ is separated from water, the reused $TiO_2$ is not deactivated. (ii) The $TiO_2$ mean recovery (%) with reused $TiO_2$ was 86.4%(1.73g/L). Although the mean initial degradation rate of Cu(II)-EDTA and Cu(II) was lower than that using fresh $TiO_2$, there was no significant change in the rate during the course of the three-trial experiment. It is suggested that Cu(II)-EDTA could be effectively treated using an recycling procedure of PCO and catalyst recovery. (iii) However, without $TiO_2$ separation, the loss of efficiency of the PCO in the use of water and $TiO_2$ due to Cu(II), DOC remained from previous degradation and Cu(II)-EDTA added to the same suspension was observed after 2 trials, and resulted in the inhibition of the Cu(II)-EDTA, Cu(II) and DOC destruction.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.921-928
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• 2004

The photocatalytic decolorization of Rhodamine B (RhB) was studied using immobilized $TiO_2$ and fluidized bed reactor. Immobilized $TiO_2$(length: 1$\~$2 mm, width: 1$\~$3 mm, thickness: 0.5$\~$2 mm) onto silicone sealant was employed as the photocatalyst and a 30 W germicidal lamp was used as the light source and the reactor volume was 4.8 L. The effects of parameters such as the amounts of photocatalyst, initial concentration, initial pH, superficial velocity, $H_2O_2$ and anion additives. ($NO_3^{-},\;SO_4^{2-},\;Cl^{-},\;CO_3^{2-}$) The results showed that the optimum dosage of the immobilized $TiO_2$ were 87.0 g/L. Initial removal rate of RhB of the immobilized $TiO_2$ was 1.5 times higher than that of the powder $TiO_2$ because of the adsorption onto the surface of immobilized $TiO_2$ In the conditions of acidic pH, initial reaction rate was increased slowly and reaction time was shorted. The effect of anion type on the reaction rate was not much.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.408-415
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• 2009

Iron-loaded activated carbon fibers (Fe-ACF) supported titanium dioxide ($TiO_2$) photocatalyst (Fe-ACF/$TiO_2$) was synthesized using a sol-gel method. Three different types of Fe-ACF/$TiO_2$ were obtained by treatment with different precursor of Fe, and characterized using BET, SEM, XRD and EDX analysis. The photocatalytic activity of Fe-ACF/$TiO_2$ was investigated by the degradation of Rhodamine B (Rh.B) solution under UV irradiation. From the experimental results, it was revealed that Fe-ACF/$TiO_2$ composites show considerable photocatalytic ability for the removal of Rh.B by comparing non-treated ACF/$TiO_2$ composites. And photo-Fenton reaction with Fe element was incoordinately influenced due to different precursor of Fe. It clearly indicates that Fe-ACF/$TiO_2$ composites prepared using $FeCl_3$ provided the highest photo-Fenton activity, then, which was affected by pH changes on the degradation of Rh.B.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.25-31
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• 2010

We used activated carbon (AC), activated carbon fiber (ACF) and multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) as carbon sources and titanium n-butoxide as titanium source to prepare carbon-$TiO_2$ composites. For characterization their properties, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), BET surface area, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) were used. And the photoactivity of the carbon-$TiO_2$ composites, under UV irradiation, was tested using the fixed concentration of methylene blue (MB, $C_{16}H_{18}N_3S{\cdot}Cl{\cdot}3H_2O$) in aqueous solution. After UV irradiation for a certain time, the concentration of MB solution was determined by UV-vis absorption spectroscopy.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.45 no.11
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• pp.688-693
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• 2008

This paper presents a study on the photocatalytic reaction about the composite particles of $TiO_2$-coated phosphors under visible light irradiation. Nanocrystalline titanium dioxide layers were directly coated on the alkaline earth aluminate phosphor, $CaAl_2O_4:Eu^{2+},\;Nd^{3+}$ particles by an sol-gel processing method. The photocatalytic reaction was analyzed with the degradation of methylene blue (MB) aqueous solution under UV and visible light irradiations. $TiO_2$-coated phosphor powders showed different photocatalytic mechanism, compared with pure $TiO_2$ (P-25, Degussa). Under UV-irradiation, $TiO_2$-coated phosphor powders showed slow photocatalytic reactivity in the early stage and fast in the latter, compared with that of pure $TiO_2$. However, $TiO_2$-coated phosphor powders showed much faster photocatalytic reactivity than that of pure $TiO_2$ under visible irradiation. In addition, the characterizations of the $TiO_2$-coated phosphor powders were conducted by a X-ray diffractometer (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM), and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS).

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.48 no.7
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• pp.674-682
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• 2010

Fe-fullerene/$TiO_2$ composite photocatalysts were prepared with titanium (IV) n-butoxide (TNB) by a sol-gel method. The samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscope (TEM), specific surface area (BET), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The photocatalytic activities were evaluated by the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) solution. XRD patterns of the composites showed that the Fe-fullerene/$TiO_2$ composite contained a typical single and clear anatase phase. The surface properties shown by SEM present a characterization of the texture on Fe-fullerene/$TiO_2$ composites and showed a homogenous composition in the particles for the titanium sources used. The EDX spectra for the elemental identification showed the presence of C and Ti with strong Fe peaks for the Fe-fullerene/$TiO_2$ composite. From the photocatalytic results, the excellent activity of the Fe-fullerene/$TiO_2$ composites for degradation of methylene blue under UV light irradiation could be attributed to both the effects between photocatalytic reaction of the supported $TiO_2$, decomposition of the organometallic reaction by the Fe compound and energy transfer effects such as electron and light of the fullerene.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.16 no.E
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• pp.39-46
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• 2000

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are considered as the precursors of atmospheric ozone and photochemical smog formation. In particular, chemical plants have produced a lot of VOCs and thus they have been forced to reduce or remove air emissions from the on-site chemical facilities. For the effective removal of VOCs produced in the chemical plants, the authors employed a titanium oxide(TiO$_2$) mediated photo-catalytic oxidation method. The initiation methods employed in this study to produce oxygen radicals for th photo-catalytic oxidation of the VOCs were Ultra-Violet(UV), Non-Thermal Plasma(NTS), and a combination of Uv and NTP. This study focused on a comparison of the removal efficiencies of VOCs as a function of the initiation method such as NTP and/or UV techniques. Removal efficiency change of VOCs as was investigated as a function of the wavelength of the UV lamp(254, 302, and 365 nm) and the degree of TiO$_2$ coating (10 and 30%). In this study, it was identified that removal efficiencies if the VOCs under the normal air environment were much better than those under the nitrogen gas environment containing small amount of oxygen. Removal efficiency by NTP technique was much better than the UV or the combination of UV and NTP techniques. In a comparison if UV wavelengths employed, it was found that shorter wavelength showed better removal efficiency, compared with longer ones. When the removal efficiencies of VOCs were compared in terms of the degree of TiO$_2$ coating, the higher TiO$_2$coating showed better removal efficiency that the lower TiO$_2$ coating