BACKGROUND The main objective of this research was to study photocatalytic oxidation of phenol in aquatic solutions by using of UV, TiO2 and the combination of them. Phenol compounds are widely used in industries and other daily life. Highly toxicity and carcinogenicity of these compounds can causal considerable adverse effects on the aquatic ecosystems and human health. METHODS The study was...

Selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde in aqueous solution, under acidic conditions, through the TiO2/Cu(II)/solar UV photocatalytic system, was investigated. Different commercial TiO2 samples were tested. The best result found, in terms of yield, was of 35% for benzaldehyde with respect to the initial benzyl alcohol concentration. During a single run, a partial conversion of ben...

Fe-deposited titanate nanotubes (Fe-TNTs) with high photocatalytic activity and adsorptive performance were synthesized through a one-step hydrothermal method. Initial As(III) oxidation followed by As(V) adsorption by Fe-TNTs could simultaneously remove these two toxic pollutants from aqueous solutions. The apparent rate constant value for photo-oxidation of As(III) under UV irradiation by Fe-T...

The bioinspired design and construction of enzyme@capsule microreactors with specific cell-like functionality has generated tremendous interest in recent years. Inspired by their fascinating complexity, scientists have endeavored to understand the essential aspects of a natural cell and create biomimicking microreactors so as to immobilize enzymes within the hierarchical structure of a microcap...

Using photocatalytic reactive nanoparticles and DNA composite modified gold electrodes, exploiting the sensitivity of DNA-mediated electron transfer to base pair stacking, we examined the effects of DNA oxidation damage by photocatalytically generated hydroxyl radicals (˙OH) on charge transfer efficiency and proposed an electrochemical technique to read the effective diffusing distance of ˙OH.

TiO(2) loading Pt nanoparticles (Pt@TiO(2)) promote one-pot synthesis of imines from alcohols and amines under UV irradiation at room temperature. This is achieved via a Pt-assisted photocatalytic oxidation of alcohols and a catalytic condensation of the formed aldehydes with amines on the TiO(2) surface.

Recent years have witnessed quite a number of worldwide efforts for fabricating CdSe/TiO2 nanotube arrays (CdSe/TNTAs) nanocomposites; however, the construction of a well-defined CdSe/TNTAs binary nanostructure for versatile photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical applications still poses a big challenge. In this work, a hierarchically ordered CdSe/nanoporous TiO2 nanotube arrays (CdSe/NP-TNTAs...

In this study, the highly-ordered TiO(2) nanotube (TNT) arrays on titanium sheets were prepared by an anodic oxidation method. Under UV illumination, the TNT films demonstrated the higher photocatalytic activity in terms of 2,3-dichlorophenol (2,3-DCP) degradation in aqueous solution than the conventional TiO(2) thin films prepared by a sol-gel method. The effects of dissolved oxygen (DO) and p...

Alcohol ethoxylates (AEs) are a class of non-ionic surfactants widely used as detergents, emulsion stabilizers, foaming agents and wetting enhancers. These properties allow large industrial application as additives in the formulation of pesticides, pharmaceuticals, paints and cosmetics, as well as in mineral separation, biotechnology etc. Although there is no known toxic effect of AEs, their co...