Development of zerovalent iron and titania (Fe0/TiO2) composite for oxidative degradation of dichlorophene in aqueous solution: synergistic role of peroxymonosulfate (HSO5-).

Binary composite of zerovalent iron and titanium dioxide (Fe0/TiO2) was synthesized for the catalytic removal of dichlorophene (DCP) in the presence of peroxymonosulfate (PMS). The as-prepared composite (Fe0/TiO2) exhibits synergistic effect and enhanced properties like improved catalytic activity of catalyst and greater magnetic property for facile recycling of catalyst. The results showed that without addition of PMS at reaction time of 50 min, the percent degradation of DCP by TiO2, Fe0, and Fe0/TiO2 was just 5%, 11%, and 12%, respectively. However, with the addition of 0.8 mM PMS, at 10 min of reaction time, the catalytic degradation performance of Fe0, TiO2, and Fe0/TiO2 was significantly improved to 82%, 18%, and 88%, respectively. The as-prepared catalyst was fully characterized to evaluate its structure, chemical states, and morphology. Scanning electron microscopy results showed that in composite TiO2 causes dispersion of agglomerated iron particles which enhances porosity and surface area of the composites and X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) results revealed successful incorporation of Fe0, and oxides of Fe and TiO2 in the composite. The adsorption-desorption analysis verifies that the surface area of Fe0/TiO2 is significantly larger than bare Fe0 and TiO2. Moreover, the surface area, particle size, and crystal size of Fe0/TiO2 was surface area = 85 m2 g-1, particle size = 0.35 µm, and crystal size = 0.16 nm as compared to TiO2 alone (surface area = 22 m2 g-1, particle size = 4.25 µm, and crystal size = 25.4 nm) and Fe0 alone (surface area = 65 m2 g-1, particle size = 0.9 µm, and crystal size = 7.87 nm). The as-synthesized material showed excellent degradation performance in synthesized wastewater as well. The degradation products and their toxicities were evaluated and the resulted degradation mechanism was proposed accordingly. The toxicity values decreased in order of DP1 > DP5 > DP2 > DP3 > DP4 and the LC50 values toward fish for 96-h duration decreased from 0.531 to 67.2. This suggests that the proposed technology is an excellent option for the treatment of antibiotic containing wastewater.

Electricity generation in fuel cell with light and without light and decomposition of tetracycline hydrochloride using g-C3N4/Fe0(1%)/TiO2 anode and WO3 cathode.

Visible-light-driven photocatalytic Fuel Cell (PFC) is of great interest in the environmental pollutant remediation with energy recovering. Herein, enhancement in photocatalytic degradation of Tetracycline Hydrochloride (TC) with electricity generation was achieved in a single reactor of PFC with paired stainless-steel mesh electrode loaded with anodic g-C3N4/Fe0(1%)/TiO2 and cathodic WO3 catalyst (at various pH, 0.05 M Na2SO4, 10 Ω external resistance) with visible light and without light. With light, TC molecules were successfully removed (97.3% in 90 min, at initial and optimal pH 5), while generating 0.98 V cell voltage and 24 W m-2 power density, simultaneous removal of COD (chemical oxygen demand) and TOC (total organic carbon) was 91.3% and 95%, respectively, suggesting superior mineralization that can be explained by the excitation of the anodic triple component g-C3N4/Fe0(1%)/TiO2. In contrast, without light, the removal of COD, TOC and the cell voltage were much lower (48.8%, 65.3%, 0.78 V). In dark, the fuel cell is self-driven and self-biased, forming potential gradient and degrading pollutants. The effects of solution pH, initial TC concentration on degradation and power generation were evaluated. This PFC degrading TC can maintain high photocatalytic activity and high power output capacity after 5 cycles with light. Without light, the electricity generation capacity was 50-70% that in visible light PFC. These features reveal that fuel cell with g-C3N4/Fe0(1%)/TiO2 photo anode and WO3 photocathode has great application potential for removing refractory pollutants from wastewater.