• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.263-266
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• 2005

Comparison between photocatalysis (UV+$TiO_2$) and sonophotocatalysis (Sonication+UV+$TiO_2$) were performed in lab-scale experiments for the treatment of chloroform. The effect of operational parameters, i.e., initial chloroform concentration, $TiO_2$ concentration, UV light intensity and sonication time on the degradation rate of aqueous solution of chloroform has been examined. The optimal conditions for photocatalysis and sonophotocatalysis processes were determined: initial chloroform concentration was 25 mg/L, the concentration of $TiO_2$ was 200 mg/L and UV light intensity was $6.630 mW/cm^2$, respectively. The optimal sonication time on sonophotocatalysis process was 90 min. Under the optimal conditions, sonophotocatalysis was effective for inducing faster degradation of the chloroform.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.585-589
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• 2006

Comparison between photocatalysis and sonophotocatalysis were performed in lab-scale experiments for the treatment of benomyl. The effect of operational parameters, i.e., initial benomyl concentration, $TiO_2$ concentration, $H_2O_2$ concentration on the degradation rate of aqueous solution of benomyl has been examined. The optimal conditions for photocatalysis and sonophotocatalysis processes were determined: initial Benomyl concentration was 3 mg/L, the concentration of $TiO_2$ was 2 g/L and $H_2O_2$concentration was 1.5 mM. Under the optimal conditions, sonophotocatalysis was effective for inducing faster degradation of the benomyl.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.261-277
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• 2013

The degradation of alachlor has been investigated using sonolysis (US), photocatalysis (UV) and sonophotocatalysis (US/UV) using three photocatalyst viz. $TiO_2$ (mixture of anatase and rutile), $TiO_2$ (anatase) and ZnO. The effect of photocatalyst loading on the extent of degradation of alachlor has been investigated by varying $TiO_2$ (both types) loading over the range of 0.01 g/L to 0.1 g/L and ZnO loading over the range of 0.05 g/L to 0.3 g/L. The optimum loading of the catalyst was found to be dependent on the type of operation i.e., photocatalysis alone or the combined operation of sonolysis and photocatalysis. All the combined processes gave complete degradation of alachlor with maximum rate of degradation being obtained in the case of sonophotocatalytic process also showing synergistic effect at optimized loading of photocatalyst. About 50% to 60% reduction in TOC has been obtained using the combined process of sonophotocatalysis depending on the operating conditions. The alachlor degradation fitted first order kinetics for all the processes under investigation. It has been observed that the $TiO_2$ (mixtrure of anatase and rutile) is the most active photocatalyst among the three photocatalysts studied in the current work. The effect of addition of radical enhancers and scavengers on sonophotocatalytic degradation of alachlor has been investigated in order to decipher the controlling mechanism. The alachlor degradation products have been identified using LC-MS method.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.92-101
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• 2012

The degradation of one of the commercially important hydrogel based on acrylic acid and acryl amide, (acrylic acid-co-acryl amide) hydrogels, by means of ultrasound irradiation and its combination with heterogeneous ($TiO_2$) was investigated. 24 kHz of ultrasound irradiation was provided by a sonicator, while an ultraviolet source of 16 W was used for UV irradiation. The extent of sonolytic degradation increased with increasing ultrasound power (in the range 30-80 W). $TiO_2$ sonophotocatalysis led to complete (acrylic acid-co-acryl amide) hydrogels degradation with increasing catalyst loading, while, the presence of $TiO_2$ in the dark generally had little effect on degradation. Therefore, emphasis was totally on the sonolytic and sonophotocatalytic degradation of hydrogels and a synergy effect was calculated for combined degradation procedures (Ultrasound and Ultraviolet) in the presence of $TiO_2$ nanoparticles. $TiO_2$ sonophotocatalysis was always faster than the respective individual processes due to the enhanced formation of reactive radicals as well as the possible ultrasound-induced increase of the active surface area of the catalyst. A kinetics model based on viscosity data was used for estimation of degradation rate constants at different conditions and a negative order for the dependence of the reaction rate on total molar concentration of (acrylic acid-co-acryl amide) hydrogels solution within the degradation process was suggested.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.231-239
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• 2011

Diethyl phthalate (DEP) and nonylphenol (NP) are widely spread in the natural environment as an endocrine disruption chemicals (EDs). Therefore, in this study, ultrasound (US) and ultraviolet (UVC), including $TiO_2$, as advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) were applied to a DEP and NP contaminated solution. When only the application of US, the optimum frequency for significant DEP degradation and a high rate of hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) formation was 283 kHz. We know that the main mechanism of DEP degradation is radical reaction and, NP can be affected by both of radical reaction and pyrolysis through only US (sonolysis) process and combined US+UVC (sonophotolysis) process. At combined AOPs (sonophotolysis/sonophotocatalysis) such as US+UVC and US+UVC+$TiO_2$, significant degradation of DEP and NP were observed. Enhancement effect of sonophotolysis and sonophotocatalysis system of DEP and NP were 1.68/1.38 and 0.99/1.17, respectively. From these results, combined sonophotocatalytic process could be more efficient system to obtain a significant DEP and NP degradation.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.162-169
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• 2014

This paper introduces a microwave-assisted synthesis method to prepare hybrid $Bi_2Se_3-GR/TiO_2$ nanocomposites, which exhibit superior properties over single component materials. The as-prepared composites were characterized by XRD, UV-vis absorbance spectra, SEM,TEM, EDX, and BET analyses, revealing uniform covering of the graphene nanosheet with $Bi_2Se_3$ and $TiO_2$ nanocrystals. For visible light photocatalysis of Rh.B, a significant enhancement in the reaction rate was consequently observed with $Bi_2Se_3-GR/TiO_2$ composites. The degradation rate($k_{app}$) obtained for sonophotocatalysis was $6.8{\times}10^{-3}min^{-1}$, roughly 2.2 times better than that of VL photocatalysis under higher concentrations of Rh.B. The sonophotocatalysis was faster due to greater formation of reactive radicals as well as an increase of the active surface area of the $Bi_2Se_3-GR/TiO_2$ composites. The high activity is attributed to the synergetic effects of high charge mobility and red shift of the absorption edge of $Bi_2Se_3-GR/TiO_2$.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.12
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• pp.3521-3526
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• 2014

A magnetic sonophotocatalyst $Fe_3O_4@SiO_2@TiO_2$ is synthesized for the enhanced biodegradability of organophosphate pesticide. The as-prepared catalysts were characterized using different techniques, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The radial sonophotocatalytic activity of $Fe_3O_4@SiO_2@TiO_2$ nanocomposite was investigated, in which commercial dichlorvos (DDVP) was chosen as an object. The degradation efficiency was evaluated in terms of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and enhancement of biodegradability. The effect of different factors, such as reaction time, pH, the added amount of catalyst on $COD_{Cr}$ removal efficiency were investigated. The average $COD_{Cr}$ removal efficiency reached 63.13% after 240 min in 12 L sonophotocatalytic reactor (catalyst $0.2gL^{-1}$, pH 7.3). The synergistic effect occurs in the combined sonolysis and photocatalysis which is proved by the significant improvement in $COD_{Cr}$ removal efficiency compared with that of solo photocatalysis. Under this experimental condition, the $BOD_5/COD_{Cr}$ ratio rose from 0.131 to 0.411, showing a remarkable improvement in biodegradability. These results showed that sonophotocatalysis may be applied as pre-treatment of pesticide wastewater, and then for biological treatment. The synthesized magnetic nanocomposite had good photocatalytic performance and stability, as when it was used for the fifth time, the $COD_{Cr}$ removal efficiency was still about 62.38%.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.1589-1595
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• 2010

In order to effective degradation of organic dye both under visible light or ultrasonic irradiation, the MWCNTs (multiwalled carbon nanotube) deposited with Fe and $TiO_2$ were prepared by a modified sol-gel method. The Fe/$TiO_2$-MWCNT catalyst was characterized by surface area of BET, scanning electron microscope (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy. The low intensity visible light and low power ultrasound was as an irradiation source and the methylene blue (MB) was choose as the model organic dye. Then degradation experiments were carried out in present of undoped $TiO_2$, Fe/$TiO_2$ and Fe/$TiO_2$-MWCNT catalysts. Through the degradation of MB solution, the results showed the feasible and potential use of Fe/$TiO_2$-MWCNT catalyst under visible light and ultrasonic irradiation due to the enhanced formation of reactive radicals as well as the possible visible light and the increase of ultrasound-induced active surface area of the catalyst. After addition of $H_2O_2$, the MB degradation rates have been accelerated, especially with Fe/$TiO_2$-MWCNT catalyst, in case of that the photo-Fenton reaction occurred. The sonophotocatalysis was always faster than the respective individual processes due to the more formation of reactive radicals as well as the increase of the active surface area of Fe/$TiO_2$-MWCNT catalyst.