TiO₂ Photocatalysis for the Transformation of Aromatic Water Pollutants into Fuels

authored by

Osama Al-Madanat, Yamen AlSalka, Wegdan Ramadan, Detlef W. Bahnemann

Abstract

The growing world energy consumption, with reliance on conventional energy sources and the associated environmental pollution, are considered the most serious threats faced by man-kind. Heterogeneous photocatalysis has become one of the most frequently investigated technolo-gies, due to its dual functionality, i.e., environmental remediation and converting solar energy into chemical energy, especially molecular hydrogen. H2 burns cleanly and has the highest gravimetric gross calorific value among all fuels. However, the use of a suitable electron donor, in what so-called “photocatalytic reforming”, is required to achieve acceptable efficiency. This oxidation half-reaction can be exploited to oxidize the dissolved organic pollutants, thus, simultaneously improving the water quality. Such pollutants would replace other potentially costly electron donors, achieving the dual-functionality purpose. Since the aromatic compounds are widely spread in the environment, they are considered attractive targets to apply this technology. In this review, different aspects are highlighted, including the employing of different polymorphs of pristine titanium dioxide as pho-tocatalysts in the photocatalytic processes, also improving the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 by loading different types of metal co-catalysts, especially platinum nanoparticles, and comparing the effect of various loading methods of such metal co-catalysts. Finally, the photocatalytic reforming of aromatic compounds employing TiO2-based semiconductors is presented.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Technical Chemistry
Laboratory of Nano and Quantum Engineering

External Organisation(s)

University of Mutah
Alexandria University
Saint Petersburg State University

Type

Review article

Journal

Catalysts

Volume

11

No. of pages

44

ISSN

2073-4344

Publication date

28.02.2021

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Catalysis, Physical and Theoretical Chemistry

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.3390/catal11030317 (Access: Open)