• Clean Technology
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.271-277
• /
• 2015

A photocatalyst which mixed by the commercialized P25-TiO₂ and a synthesized Ag_xO was used in an appropriate weight ratio to effectively produce hydrogen gas in this study. The Ag_xOs were synthesized with the conventional sol-gel method, and tetramethylammonium hydroxides were added at the synthesis process in order to stabilize the solutions, and then the solutions were heat-treated at the temperatures of -5, 25, and 50 ℃, resulted to obtain the three types of silver oxides. Physicochemical properties of the synthesized Ag_xOs were identified through X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), scanning emission microscopy (SEM), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). In the photolysis results of water/methanol (weight ratio 1:1) solution, the mixture of P25-TiO₂/Ag_xO exhibited a significantly higher hydrogen gases evolution, compared to that of pure P25-TiO₂. Additionally, the addition of H₂O₂ as an supplement oxidant and in Ag_xO synthesized at 50 ℃ improved the hydrogen production efficiency. In particular, the emitted hydrogen gases reached to 13,000 μmol during 8 hours when a mixed catalyst, Ag_xO of 0.1 g and P25-TiO₂ of 0.9 g, were used.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.31 no.10
• /
• pp.927-932
• /
• 2009

Toxic and recalcitrant organic pollutants in wastewaters can be effectively treated when advanced oxidation and biodegradation are combined, ideally with intimate coupling, in which both processes occur simultaneously in the same system. One means to achieve intimate coupling is to coat nanoscale $TiO_2$ on the outside of macroporous biofilm carriers. This study investigated the kinetics of photocatalysis with $TiO_2$-coated porous carriers. The carriers were made of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and coated with $TiO_2$ using a low-temperature sol-gel process. The $TiO_2$-coated carriers catalyzed the oxidation of methylene blue (MB) effectively under irradiation of UV light. The overall reaction rate with adsorption and photolysis saturated at high MB concentration, and approached the adsorption rate, which was first order for all MB concent rations. This result indicates that adsorbed MB may have slowed photocatalysis by blocking active sites for photocatalysis. The overall kinetics could be described by a quasi-Langmuir model. The estimated maximum specific (per unit mass of $TiO_2$) transformation rate of MB by the $TiO_2$-coated carriers was four times larger than that obtained from slurry-$TiO_2$ reactors. This observation demonstrated that the $TiO_2$ present as a coating on the carriers maintained high efficiency for transforming recalcitrant organic matter via photocatalysis. These findings serve as a foundation for advancement of an intimate coupling of photocatalysis to biodegradation.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
• /
• v.4 no.4
• /
• pp.388-395
• /
• 2016

This paper explores the photocatalytic sensitivity of cement mortar incorporated with recycled $TiO_2$ from waste water sludge. Basically, $TiO_2$ cluster sank down slowly to the bottom of cement mortar specimen before setting and hardening process. This leads the mismatch of $TiO_2$ concentration on the top and the bottom faces of a specimen. This poorly dispersed $TiO_2$-cement mortar naturally exhibits poor NOx removal efficiency especially on the top of cementitious structure. In architectural engineering application such as building or housing structures, one can simply filp over from the bottom so that more $TiO_2$ concentrated surface can be placed outward into the air. However, in highway pavement case, this could not be applicable due to in-situ installation of concrete pavement. Hence, the dispersion of $TiO_2$ cluster inside the cementitous material is getting important issue onto road construction application. To elaborate this issue, according to our results, silica fume, high-ranged water reducer, viscosity agent, blast furnace slag were not enhanced much of dispersion characteristics of $TiO_2$ cluster. The combination of foaming agent and accelerator of hardening with viscosity agent and small grain size of fine aggregate may help the dispersion of $TiO_2$ inside cementitious materials. Even though the enhanced dispersion were applied to the specimen, NOx removal efficiency doest not change much for the top surface of the specimen. This concurrently affected by the presence of tiny air voids and the dispersion of $TiO_2$ in that these voids could easily adsorbed NOx gas with the aid of large surface area.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.765-773
• /
• 2000

The degradation of humic acid using $TiO_2$ coatings was studied, $TiO_2$ coatings were prepared by dip-coating method. Sol solutions for coating were prepared by mixing the gel, which can be produced by the reaction of $TiOCl_2$ and $NH_4OH$ solution, and hydrogen peroxide solution, and hydrolysis of titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP). It was shown from XRD that coatings from sol aged at $100^{\circ}C$ for 18h with titanium peroxo solution were crystallized to anatase in the range of temperatures of $25^{\circ}C$ to $500^{\circ}C$. In contrast, those coated from TTIP were crystallized to anatase at temperature above $400^{\circ}C$. So the sols originated from $TiCl_4$ can be applied for not only on the heat-resistance substrates but on the plastic substrates. Thickness and the quality of the films were dependent on the withdrawing speed, the concentration of sol, and the number of coating. The films showed various interference colors depending on the thickness of them. In the case that the films coated 2 times at withdrawing speed of 2.5cm per minute by 0.2M sol, the films had a transparent light blue color with thickness of around 50nm. It was known from the result of photo-degradation by $TiO_2$ coatings using humic acid that the removal efficiency of $COD_{cr}$ was over 85% after illumination of $UV/H_2O_2$ for 40min. and that of UV/VIS absorbable materials was over 95%.