Hybrid photocatalytic materials for contaminants of emerging concern degradation

Abstract

Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) such as pharmaceuticals represent a new global problem for water quality because these compounds are very resistant to conventional wastewater treatments and can get into environment, causing severe threats to aquatic organisms and human health. In the last decades, semiconductor photocatalysis has become a promising technology to degrade these contaminants. However, poor efficiency of photocatalysts under sunlight and time-consuming and expensive processes for photocatalyst recovery/reuse are two main limitations for photocatalysis application in water remediation. This doctoral thesis focuses on surpassing these obstacles. Firstly, the importance of the interaction between pollutants and photocatalysts, the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) for photocatalytic performance is considered. Then, the development of Au-functionalised plasmonic photocatalysts is carried out. Later, novel and more efficient photocatalysts using Au nanostar functionalising TiO2 are developed and tested for photocatalytic application. Finally, the novel photocatalysts are immobilised into polymer matrix through different techniques for their reusability and recovery in photocatalytic application. The results obtained show the prepared hybrid photocatalytic materials opening the door to cost-effectively degrade a high variety of CECs under sunlight for water remediation.