Several photocatalytic nanoparticles are synthesized and studied for potential application for the degradation of organic and biological wastes. Although these materials degrade organic compounds by advance oxidation process, the exact mechanisms of microbial decontamination remains partially known. Understanding the real mechanisms of these materials for microbial cell death and growth inhibit...

Arsenic contamination has been found in the groundwater of several countries. Photocatalysis can rapidly oxidize arsenite (As(III)) to less labile and less toxic arsenate (As(V)), which then can be removed by adsorption onto photocatalyst surfaces. This study investigates the photocatalytic oxidation of As(III) to As(V) as a function of As(III) concentration, pH, catalyst loading, light intensi...

Au-BiVO(4) heterogeneous nanostructures have been successfully prepared through in situ growth of gold nanoparticles on BiVO(4) microtubes and nanosheets via a cysteine-linking strategy. The experimental results reveal that these Au-BiVO(4) heterogeneous nanostructures exhibit much higher visible-light photocatalytic activities than the individual BiVO(4) microtubes and nanosheets for both dye ...

Gas-solid heterogeneous photooxidation of toluene over TiO2 catalyst was studied to investigate the factors controlling the catalytic activities. The toluene photooxidation behavior on TiO2 was strongly affected by the formation and oxidation behavior of intermediate compounds on TiO2, and their accumulation decreased the reaction rate for toluene photooxidation. The formation and oxidation beh...

Numerous advanced surface modification techniques exist to improve bone integration and antibacterial properties of titanium based implants and prostheses. A simple and straightforward method of obtaining uniform and controlled TiO(2) coatings of devices with complex shapes is H(2)O(2)-oxidation and hot water aging. Based on the photoactivated bactericidal properties of TiO(2), this study was a...

The photocatalytic behaviour of a series of ammonium fluoride (NH(4)F)-doped titania (TiO(2)) photocatalysts was investigated in the decomposition of acetic acid in aqueous suspensions and in the gas phase mineralization of acetaldehyde. Very similar photocatalytic activity trends, usually increasing with increasing the calcination temperature for a given nominal dopant amount, were obtained fo...

The photocatalytic conversion of CO2 into useful chemical compounds in water without using organic sacrificial reagents is a promising method to overcome environmental and energy problems. Various synthesized layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are capable of reducing CO2 to CO in an aqueous solution under UV light irradiation. However, it is difficult to oxidize H2O to O2 in a photocatalytic syst...

This article deals with the degradation of NO present in the air by means of a photocatalytic oxidation process based on TiO2 nanoparticles incorporated in a polymer-matrix-based coating. The experimental set-up consisted of a flow type reactor adapted from the ISO 22197-1 standard. NO2 in the gas phase, and nitrate ions adsorbed on the photocatalytic surface were detected as finals products. V...

Abstarct: Nanostructured colloidal semiconductors with heterogeneous photocatalytic behavior have drawn considerable attention over the past few years. This is due to their large surface area, high redox potential of the photogenerated charge carriers, and selective reduction/oxidation of different classes of organic compounds. In the present paper, we have carried out a systematic synthesis of...

Nicotine belongs to a group of compounds being specific toxic anthropogenic contaminants. Highly carcinogenic nitrozamines are one of the possible products of photocatalytic oxidation of nicotine. The main objective of the present study was to investigate the photocatalytic degradation of nicotine and the intentification of 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1butanone and N-nitroso-nornicotine...