Engineering a staggered type-II Bi2WO6/WO3 heterojunction with improved photocatalytic activity in wastewater treatment.

In recent years, the removal organic pollutants from wastewater by advanced oxidation processes, especially photocatalysis, has become a meaningful approach due to its eco-friendliness and low cost. Herein, staggered type-II Bi2WO6/WO3 heterojunction photocatalysts were prepared by a facile hydrothermal route and investigated by modern physicochemical methods (X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, low-temperature nitrogen adsorption-desorption, and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy). The optimized BWOW-5 photocatalyst exhibited a H2O2-assisted photocatalytic methylene blue removal efficiency of 94.1% (k = 0.01414 min-1) within 180 min under optimal reaction conditions, which is much higher than that of unmodified Bi2WO6 and WO3 due to efficient separation of the photogenerated charge carriers. The trapping experiments demonstrated that photogenerated hydroxyl radicals and holes play a key role in the photodegradation reaction. Moreover, the optimized BWOW-5 heterojunction photocatalyst exhibited excellent activity in the H2O2-assisted degradation of other pollutants, namely phenol, isoniazid, levofloxacin, and dibenzothiophene with the removal rate of 63.1, 73.6, 95.0, and 72.4%, respectively. This investigation offers a design strategy for Bi2WO6-based multifunctional photocatalytic composites with improved activity for organic pollutant degradation.

Mesoporous LaVO4/MCM-48 nanocomposite with visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation of phenol in wastewater.

Dearomatization through photocatalytic oxidation is a swiftly rising phenolic compounds removal technology that works at trifling operations requirements with a special emphasis on the generation of nontoxic products. The study aims to develop a LaVO4/MCM-48 nanocomposite that was prepared via a hydrothermally approach assisting the employment of an MCM-48 matrix, which was then utilized for phenol degradation processes. Various techniques including UV-Vis DRS, FTIR, PL, Raman, TEM, and BET analyses are employed to characterize the developed photocatalyst. The developed photocatalyst presented remarkable characteristics, especially increased light photon utilization, and reduced recombination rate leading to enhanced visible-light-driven photodegradation performance owing to the improved specific surface area, specific porosities, and <2 eV narrow energy bandgap. The LaVO4/MCM-48 nanocomposite was experienced on aqueous phenol solution having 20 mg/L concentration under visible-light exposure, demonstrating exceptional performance in photodegradation up to 99.28%, comparatively higher than pure LaVO4. The conducted kinetic measurements revealed good accordance with pseudo first-order. A possible reaction mechanism for photocatalytic degradation was also predicted. The as-synthesized LaVO4/MCM-48 nanocomposite presented excellent stability and recyclability.

Bifunctional Silica-Supported Ionic Liquid Phase (SILP) Catalysts in Silane Production: Their Synthesis, Characterization and Catalytic Activity.

A mesoporous silica support was synthesized using the sol-gel method from trichlorosilane. There is a tendency for the specific surface area and the proportion of silica particles mesopores to increase during all stages of sol-gel synthesis. It has been shown that the insertion of hexane and toluene, as additional solvents, into the structure-forming polyethylene glycol, makes it possible to regulate the pore size and specific surface area of silica. Silica functionalization was carried out using SILP technology. The activities of the catalytic systems based on polymer and inorganic supports immobilized by imidazole-based ionic liquids during the trichlorosilane disproportionation reaction were compared. There is a tendency for the monosilane yield for catalytic systems based on an inorganic support to increase. We identified the most promising catalyst in terms of monosilane yield and proposed a bifunctional catalyst that exhibited activity in two parallel reactions: trichlorosilane disproportionation and silicon tetrachloride hydrogenation.