Issue 9, 2024

Sustainable synthesis of titanium based photocatalysts via surfactant templating: from kerosene to sunflower oil

Abstract

Recent research conducted by the United Nations indicates that 2 billion people worldwide lack access to safe, clean drinking water, while about half of the global population experiences acute water scarcity no less than once every year. Therefore, materials and technologies that sustainably address drinking water pollution and/or its treatment are urgently needed. This study aims to develop novel, sustainable titanosilicate photocatalysts by replacing expensive and harmful oils/surfactants, typically used as templating agents during their synthesis for pore structure generation, by cheap, innocuous and sustainable feedstocks such as sunflower oil. The results indicate that sunflower oil-based titanosilicates are more effective in degradation and removal of model pollutant Rhodamine B via combined photocatalysis-adsorption action, compared to their counterparts synthesized with a fossil-fuel derived kerosene oil mixture. Moreover, the catalysts are shown to be robust, recyclable, are ∼50% cheaper to produce on a laboratory scale and displayed up to three times the reaction rates of their conventional counterparts. Compared to commercial TiO2 photocatalysts, these titanosilicates are shown to have superior overall stability in water. Additionally, they show bandgaps close to or lower than that of TiO2 (3.2 eV), without the use of added dopants, providing more effective UV/visible light absorption. Thus, they have the potential to be used as sustainable yet effective alternatives in the treatment of drinking water.

Graphical abstract: Sustainable synthesis of titanium based photocatalysts via surfactant templating: from kerosene to sunflower oil

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
02 Nov 2023
Accepted
20 Dec 2023
First published
02 Jan 2024
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Mater. Adv., 2024,5, 3649-3661

Sustainable synthesis of titanium based photocatalysts via surfactant templating: from kerosene to sunflower oil

R. M. D. Bristow, P. J. S. Foot, J. D. McGettrick, J. C. Bear and A. S. Perera, Mater. Adv., 2024, 5, 3649 DOI: 10.1039/D3MA00957B

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