Degradation pathways of emerging contaminants using TiO2-activated carbon heterostructures in aqueous solution under simulated solar light

This work deals with the degradation of three emerging contaminants (acetaminophen, ibuprofen and antipyrine) in water under simulated solar light using different catalysts of TiO2/activated carbon heterostructures. The heterostructures, based on anatase phase, were successfully synthesized followin...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Peñas-Garzón, M., Gómez Avilés, Almudena, Belver Coldeira, Carolina, Rodríguez Jiménez, Juan José, Bedia García-Matamoros, Jorge
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Repositorio:Biblos-e Archivo. Repositorio Institucional de la UAM
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.uam.es:10486/709398
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10486/709398
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2020.124867
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Activated Carbon
Pharmaceutical Degradation Pathways
Solar Photocatalysis
TiO2/Carbon-Heterostructures
Water Treatment
Química
Descripción
Sumario:This work deals with the degradation of three emerging contaminants (acetaminophen, ibuprofen and antipyrine) in water under simulated solar light using different catalysts of TiO2/activated carbon heterostructures. The heterostructures, based on anatase phase, were successfully synthesized following three different methods (solvothermal, microwave-assisted and sol-gel), using lignin as carbon precursor. The sol-gel photocatalyst only yielded 50% conversion of acetaminophen and a low mineralization (15%), probably due to the higher crystal and particle size and lower surface area of this heterostructure, as a consequence of the higher temperature reached during the heat-treatment included in this synthesis route to achieve anatase crystallization. In contrast, the heterostructure prepared by the microwave-assisted procedure achieved complete conversion after 6 h of reaction. Regarding the contaminants, ibuprofen was the most easily removed, requiring 3 h for complete disappearance, while antipyrine showed the highest resistance to photodegradation, not being completely removed after 6 h. The photocatalytic performance was also evaluated for a mixture of these three pharmaceuticals at different initial pH. The fastest and highest mineralization (ca. 50%) occurred around neutral pH. The study proposes the oxidation degradation pathways of the three pharmaceuticals under solar-simulated irradiation from the analysis of the reaction intermediates