See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/385751610

5. Photocatalysis for Waste Water Treatment

Chapter · November 2024

CITATIONS READS

0 51

6 authors, including:

Deepika Patel
Pacific University
13 PUBLICATIONS 12 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Deepika Patel on 13 November 2024.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Sustainable Development in 21st Century Through Clean Environment https://www.kdpublications.in
ISBN: 978-81-972400-4-1

15. Photocatalysis for Waste Water Treatment

Rakshit Ameta, Lalita Joshi,
Deepika Patel, Jyotsana Panwar,
Suresh C. Ameta
Department of Chemistry,
PACIFIC University, Udaipur, Rajasthan.
S. Ravichandran
Department of Chemistry,
School of Mechanical Engineering,
Lovely Professional University,
Jalandhar, Punjab.

Abstract:

Water is an important constituent of life support system. No life can survive and no one can
even dream to live without water. The majority of water resources are polluted becomes of
fast industrial growth, urbanization and anthropogenic problems due to rapid growth in
population. Out of these, main sources of water pollution are industrial effluents,
agricultural discharges, sewage and other wastes. These effluents are responsible for
posing a larger problem of water pollution so that water remains no longer suitable for
drinking and agriculture purposes. It has been reported that more than 2.6 billion people
(about 2/5th of world's population) still lack basic sanitation facilities. As a consequence,
more than 10% people are still having drinking water sources, which are not safe.

15.1 Introduction:

Water is one of the most important natural resources for human kind. Water pollution is one
of the major problems faced by the humans. Microbial and chemical contaminations
challenges are there before the world in providing safe and clean water to the society.
Organic pollutants in industrial and agricultural sewage are a serious threat to the
environments as well as human health. Major water pollutants are represented in Figure
15.1

116
 Photocatalysis for Waste Water Treatment

Figure 15.1: Major Water Pollutants

They produce a major problem of water pollution. Because of water pollution, thousands of
children die every day from different waterborne diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, typhoid
etc. The adverse effects of water pollution still remained a major source of causing health
problems. These are represented in Figure 15.2

Figure 15.2: Adverse Effects of Water Pollution

117
Sustainable Development in 21st Century Through Clean Environment

Some of these known techniques used for water and wastewater treatment are:

• Electrodeposition,
• Electrocoagulation,
• Electro flotation,
• Electrooxidation,
• Screening, aeration and pre-chlorination,
• Filtration,
• Settling or sedimentation,
• Coagulation and flocculation,
• Disinfection and chlorination,
• Aeration,
• Biofiltration, and
• Oxidation ponds.

Various wastewater treatment technologies are available, which are different from each
other is regards to their principles, economy, application, and speed. Common methods of
wastewater treatment are classified as biological, chemical and physical treatments.

Many methods of treatment of pollution water have been suggested and used for last few
decades. But all these methods are associated with some or the other disadvantage.
Therefore, there is a need for fast, low cost, effective and green chemical technology and
search is still on. Advanced oxidation process (AOPs) are significantly efficient for
complete destruction of pollutants like, naturally occurring toxins, pesticides, dyes, phenols,
EDS, etc. AOPs have been proposed to degrade even recalcitrant molecules. Advanced
oxidation process is a wastewater treatment process, which is used to convert polluted water
into useful form with relatively less or negligible health and environment issues. Treated
waste water is then returned back to water-cycle and it can be reused.

15.2 Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs):

Advanced oxidation processes in a broad sense, refer to a set of chemical treatment

procedures designed to remove organic (and sometimes inorganic) materials in water and
waste water by oxidation through reactions with hydroxyl radicals (•OH), holes (h +),
superoxide anion radicle (O2•−), hydroperoxo radical (HO2•), etc. There are six major types
of advanced oxidation processes such as photolysis, photocatalysis, electrochemical
oxidation technologies, sonolysis, Fenton-based reactions, and ozone-based processes.

AOPs have several advantages in the field of water treatment:

• They can effectively eliminate organic compounds in aqueous phase, rather than
collecting or transferring pollutants into another phase.
• Due to the reactivity of •OH, it reacts with many aqueous pollutants non-selectively
without discrimination. AOPs are therefore applicable in many such scenarios if not all,
where a number of organic contaminants are to be removed at the same time.
• Some heavy metals can also be removed in forms of M(OH)x precipitates.

118
 Photocatalysis for Waste Water Treatment

• Disinfection can also be achieved in some AOPs, which makes these AOPs integrated
solution to some water quality problems.
• Since the complete reduction product of •OH is water and therefore, theoretically
speaking AOPs do not introduce any new hazardous materials into the water.
• One of the major advantages of AOPs is transformation or complete mineralization of
organic pollutants; even persistent organic pollutants (POPs) to simple stable inorganic
compounds such as water, carbon dioxide, and salts with negligible or no sludge
production. Hence, it may not require another sludge treatment stage.

15.3 Photocatalysis:

Photocatalysis is a developing branch of chemistry, which deals with chemical reactions

proceeding in the presence of light and photocatalyst. Basically, a photocatalyst is a
semiconductor, which increases the rate of a reaction in presence of light. There is a wide
range of applications of photocatalyst such as water purification, antibacterial, deodorizing,
air purifying, antifogging, self-cleaning, etc.

Here, superhydrophilicity played an important role. As it is a green chemical route and

therefore, it is the requirement of the day. The term photocatalyst is a combination of two
words: photo related to photon and catalyst, which is a substance altering the reaction rate
in its presence. Therefore, photocatalysts are materials that change the rate of a chemical
reaction on exposure to light. This phenomenon is known as photocatalysis. The substrate
that absorbs light and acts as a catalyst for chemical reactions is known as a photocatalyst.
All the photocatalysts are basically semiconductors. Photocatalysis is a phenomenon, in
which an electron-hole pair is generated on exposure of a semiconducting material to light.
Electrons in conduction band can reduce any substrate, while holes in valence band can
generate •OH radical, which is a strong oxidant and it can oxidize many organic compounds.
The mechanism of photocatalysis is represented in Figure 15.3

Figure 15.3: Mechanism of Photocatalysis

119
Sustainable Development in 21st Century Through Clean Environment

The photocatalytic reactions can be categorized into two types on the basis of physical state
of reactants.

• Homogeneous photocatalysis: When both; semiconductor and reactant are in the same
phase, i.e. gas, solid, or liquid, such photocatalytic reactions are termed as homogeneous
photocatalysis.
• Heterogeneous photocatalysis: When both; semiconductor and reactant are in
different phases, such photocatalytic reactions are classified as heterogeneous
photocatalysis.

Photocatalysts are defined as materials, which decompose detrimental substances under the
sun lights containing UV rays. Mainly, TiO2 and Zno are used as photocatalyst for a long.
Among polymorphs of TiO2, anatase phase shows the most effective photocatalytic effect.
The different methods for photocatalyst preparation include sol-gel, coprecipitation,
hydrothermal, solvothermal, sonochemical, chemical vapour deposition, etc. Photocatalysts
may be used for antifouling, antifogging, conservation and storage of energy, deodorization,
sterilization, self-cleaning, air purification, wastewater treatment, etc.

Modification of Photocatalyst

Efficiency of a photocatalyst can be enhanced by:

• Formation of localized state just above the valence band,

• Formation of localized state just below the conduction band,
• Using photocatalyst with low band gap, and
• Color center formation in band gap and surface modification.

Some of the important techniques for modification of photocatalyst are:

• Doping with metal or nonmetal,

• Codoping with various combination of donor and acceptor materials,
• Coupling of photocatalyst, composite formation,
• Sensitization,
• Use of co-catalyst, and
• Use of heterojunction (Z-scheme and S- scheme).

15.4 Photocatalytic Degradations:

Photocatalytic degradation is an advanced oxidation process, which can be used to degrade

pollutants with high concentration, complexity and low biodegradability. Photocatalytic
degradation uses light energy to drive degradation of pollutant.

Ledakowicz et al.1 investigated treatment of synthetic wastewater and simulating effluents

from knitting industry using AOPs. The wastewater contained an anionic detergent
(Awiważ KG), a softening agent (Tetrapol CLB) and acid blue 40 (AB 40). It was reported
that AB40 did not undergo biodegradation without AOPs pretreatment.

120
 Photocatalysis for Waste Water Treatment

They studied the effects of various oxidants like H 2O2 and O3 in presence of UV light on
biodegradation of textile water. Tang et al.2 investigated photocatalytic degradation of
methylene blue (MB) over CaIn 2O4 photocatalyst under visible light irradiation in 2 h at
room temperature. It was reported that high activity could be retained in a wide range of
wavelength even up to 580 nm. The SO 42− ions were detected as a product of degradation
of MB, indicating that this dye was completely mineralized in this process.

Liqiang et al.3 modified ZnO nanoparticles photocatalysts by depositing Pd on their surfaces

via photoreduction method. It was observed that content of crystal lattice oxygen decreased
on surface of ZnO nanoparticles, when sufficient amount of Pd was deposited, but adsorbed
oxygen increased, which indicated that Pd was deposited on the crystal lattice oxygen. As
a result, the activity of ZnO nanoparticles was significantly improved in gas phase
photocatalytic oxidation of n-C7H16. It was concluded that photocatalytic activity of Pd-
deposited ZnO nanoparticles was higher.

Chen et al.4 prepared a visible light active TiO2 photocatalyst via surface chemical
modification using toluene 2,4-diisocyanate (TDI). It was reported that as-prepared TiO2-
TDI had absorption in the visible region due to LMCT excition of the surface complex. This
TiO2-TDI photocatalyst had a good photostability and it also exhibited high photocatalytic
performance for the degradation of organic pollutants. It was revealed that turnover number
of this photocatalyst for photodegradation of 2,4-dichlorophenol could reach 15.43 after
five times reuse of this photocatalyst under visible light irradiation.

Wu et al.5 prepared boron and carbon modified visible light-active TiO2 photocatalyst
through sol–gel followed by a solvothermal process. It was reported that as-prepared boron
and carbon modified TiO2 exhibited absorption in visible range (400–500 nm). It was also
revealed that there is oxygen vacancy also in samples of carbon and boron modified TiO 2.
It was found that this modified TiO2 has higher photocatalytic activity on the degradation
of acid orange 7 (AO7) in aqueous solution on visible light exposure than carbon modified
TiO2 and undoped anatase TiO2.

Pan and Zhu6 synthesized BiPO4 with a nonmetal oxy acid via hydrothermal method. The
as-prepared BiPO4 photocatalyst has a band gap of 3.85 eV. It was found that the
photocatalytic activity of BiPO4 was almost double than that of TiO2 (P25, Degussa) in
degradation of methylene blue (MB), but BET surface area of BiPO 4 is just one tenth of
compared to TiO2 P25.

It was revealed that higher position of the valence band and separation efficiency of
electron−hole pairs are responsible for higher photocatalytic activity of BiPO 4. It was
concluded that an inductive effect of PO 43− helped in separation of e−/h+ providing BiPO4
an excellent photocatalytic activity.

Yu et al.7 prepared Fe (III)/AgBr photocatalysts by grafting Fe (III) cocatalyst on surface of

AgBr particles via an impregnation method. They evaluated photocatalytic performance by
the photocatalytic decolorization of methyl orange solution in presence of visible-light. It
was reported that the Fe (III) cluster acted as an effective cocatalyst. It not only improved
the photocatalytic activity of AgBr photocatalyst, but it also increased photoinduced

121
Sustainable Development in 21st Century Through Clean Environment

stability of photosensitive AgBr. It was revealed that photocatalytic activity of AgBr

photocatalyst surface coated by Fe (III) cocatalyst (8.2 at. %) was enhanced by a factor of
73% and it can be reused even after five cycles.

Bai et al.8 prepared C60 modified graphitic carbon nitride composite (C 60/g-C3N4) via
thermal treatment at 550° C, which involved polymerization of dicyandiamide in the
presence of C60. It was reported that the valence band (VB) of g-C3N4 shifted to a lower
energy state, when C60 was incorporated into the matrix of g-C3N4. It provides strong photo-
oxidation capability to as-prepared composite under visible light. This composite exhibited
enhanced degradation of methylene blue (MB) and phenol in presence of visible light
(λ > 420 nm). The C60/g-C3N4 composites had high photocatalytic degradation activities as
compared to bulk g-C3N4. This enhanced photocatalytic activity may be due to holes
and •OH radicals. It may be attributed to strong interaction of conjugative π-bond between
g-C3N4 and C60.

The ZnO nanoneedles (ZNNs) were grown by Tripathy et al. 9 in large quantity by thermal
evaporation approach on non-catalytic silicon substrates. It was then used as
effective photocatalyst for photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO). It was
observed that as-synthesized nanostructures were having high density and exhibited high-
crystallinity with good optical properties. The photocatalytic properties of ZNNs were
investigated under UV light irradiation. It was also revealed that degradation rate of ~95.4%
of MO could be achieved within 140 min. Balcha et al.10 synthesized zinc oxide
nanoparticles via precipitation and sol-gel methods. It was revealed that their hexagonal
wurtzite structure with crystallite sizes of 30 and 28 nm were obtained, respectively. The
photocatalytic activities of as-prepared samples were evaluated by photocatalytic
degradation of methylene blue under UV radiation. It was also revealed that (20 to 100 mg
L−1) 81.0 and 92.5 % dye could be degraded on using ZnO (250 mg L−1) prepared by
precipitation and sol-gel methods, respectively. It was concluded that sol-gel method can
be preferred over precipitation method.

Thi and Lee11 prepared visible light-driven photocatalysts of lanthanum (La) doped ZnO
nanoparticles via precipitation method using different La doping concentrations (0.5, 1.0
and 1.5 wt%). It was reported that although La doping did not affect the crystallinity of ZnO
much more, but it increased optical absorption of visible light due to the reduction in band
gap energy and particle size. The La-doped ZnO photocatalyst was then used for treatment
of paracetamol (100 mg L−1) in aqueous solution for 3 h under visible light irradiation. It
was revealed that 1.0 wt% La-doped ZnO photocatalyst exhibited highest photocatalytic
activity in degrading paracetamol and it could achieve a degradation efficiency of 99% and
TOC removal of 85%.

Sudrajat and Babel12 synthesized N-doped ZnO (N-ZnO) via combustion route. The
photocatalytic activity of N-ZnO was evaluated for degradation of amaranth (AM) and
methylene blue under visible and UV light. It was reported that N-doping extended the
spectral response in visible region and even up to the near-infrared region using 1 g L−1 of
N-ZnO at pH 7. It was also revealed that 89.3% of methylene blue (10 mg L−1) could be
degraded within 1.5 h under visible light, while 4 h are required with N-ZnO and it can
degrade only 88.5% of amaranth.

122
 Photocatalysis for Waste Water Treatment

Wu et al.13 constructed a composite of p-type LaFeO3 microspheres coated with n-type

nanosized graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets (g-C3N4). It was reported that as-prepared
LaFeO3/g-C3N4 p-n heterostructured photocatalyst exhibited enhanced visible-light
absorption, efficient and effective separation and migration of charge carriers. As a result,
this composite displayed higher visible-light photocatalytic activity for the degradation of
brilliant blue, which was 7.8 and 16.9 times than that of LaFeO3 and pristine g-
C3N4, respectively. The photogenerated holes, superoxide radicals and hydroxyl radicals
played active role as oxidants in this degradation process. Z-scheme charge carrier transfer
pathway has been proposed to explain this dye-sensitization effect.

Huang et al.14 prepared molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) microspheres and used them as a
photocatalyst for the degradation of thiobencarb (TBC) in presence of visible-light. It was
reported that degradation efficiency could reach to 95% in 12 h in the pH range of 6–9. The
effect of presence of some anions (Cl− and NO3−) was negligible on the photocatalytic
activity of MoS2. It was predicted that hydroxyl radicals and holes played the role of
reactive species in this process as indicated by scavengers’ studies. The practicality of as-
prepared MoS2 photocatalyst was confirmed by using it in the removal of TBC from real
water samples. Its stability and reusability were also ascertained in three successive runs.

Jiang et al.15 fabricated hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) decorated g-C3N4 metal-free
heterojunction so that surface area is more and charge separation is also promoted. The
photocatalytic activity of as-prepared h-BN/g-C3N4 composites was evaluated in
degradation of rhodamine B and tetracycline under visible light irradiation. It was observed
that h-BN/g-C3N4 composites exhibited much higher photocatalytic activity as compared to
g-C3N4 and h-BN. It was reported that photocatalytic efficiency of BC-3 sample was 2.3
and 60.3 times higher in degrading TC than its individual components g-C3N4 and h-BN,
respectively. Similarly, it was also 7.3 and 11.8 times higher than g-C3N4 and h-BN for RhB
degradation, respectively. This enhanced photocatalytic activity of h-BN/g-C3N4 composite
was attributed to increase in surface area and h-BN nanosheet, which acted as promoter for
photoexcited holes transfer.

Lu et al.16 synthesized type II ZnIn2S4/BiPO4 heterojunction via hydrothermal route. The

morphology of as-prepared composite was dandelion-like microflower heterostructure. It
was observed that the highest photocatalytic activity was there on using 70 wt%
ZnIn2S4/BiPO4 heterojunction, which can degrade about 84% tetracycline (40 mg L−1) in
90 min. This activity was about 1.89 and 3.14 times higher as compared to ZnIn 2S4 and
BiPO4, respectively. Improved separation efficiency of electron-hole pairs was mainly
attributed due to type II heterojunction between ZnIn2S4 and BiPO4, during the
photocatalytic reaction. It was confirmed that •OH and O2• − were active oxidizing species
in this photocatalytic system. Mahanthappa et al. 17synthesized CuS, CdS and CuS-CdS
nanocomposite photocatalysts via hydrothermal method. They also evaluated as-prepared
materials for degradation of methylene blue in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (as an
oxidant) under visible light irradiation. It was also revealed that about 80, 59 and 99.97%
MB dye (10 ppm) degraded by could be degraded using for CuS, CdS and CuS-CdS
nanocomposite, respectively in 10 min. This higher activity of CuS-CdS nanocomposite
was attributed to narrow band gap, large surface area, low recombination of the photo-
generated electrons and holes and high adsorbing capacity of the dye.

123
Sustainable Development in 21st Century Through Clean Environment

Tichapondwa et al.18 investigated photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue over three

commercial TiO2 powders as catalysts having different crystal phases. Degradation studies
were then conducted on 10 ppm MB solutions using these three powders. It was found that
Degussa P25 TiO2, (mixture of rutile and anatase ) was the most efficient as compared to
the neat anatase and rutile powders and it could degrade 81.4% of the MB. About 95%
degradation was achieved on using 0.5 g L−1 catalyst loading at pH 10. It was revealed that
doping with copper increased degradation by 2% but zinc doping reduced it to 90%.

Kiwaan et al.19 synthesized titanium dioxide photocatalyst via low temperature co-
precipitation process and used for photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B and acid red
57 (AR57) under UV irradiation. It was observed that the sample annealed at
400°C exhibited highest photocatalytic dye degradation efficiency of 93.8 and 90.7% for
RhB and AR57, respectively in 190 min. It was found that degradation of RhB and AR57
involved OH• radicals as main oxidizing species.

Tripathi et al.20 reported preparation of fluorescent selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) using

Ficus benghalensis leaf extract. It was observed that the size distribution of these SeNPs
was found to be in the range of 45–95 nm, and the average particle size was 64.03 nm. It
was also revealed that as-synthesized SeNPs have been used for the photocatalytic
degradation of methylene blue and 57.63% of dye degradation could be achieved in 40 min.

Aziz et al.21 prepared chitosan-zinc sulfide nanoparticles (CS-ZnS-NPs). It was observed

that their average particle size was 40 nm. The photocatalytic efficiency of as-prepared CS-
ZnS-NPs was evaluated for degradation of acid brown 98 and acid black 234
using UV lamp (254 nm). It was reported that at optimal conditions, these NPs could
degrade 96.7% acid black 234 in 100 min, while 92.6% for acid brown 98 was removed in
165 min. It was easily recovered and reused for four cycles.

Uheida et al.22 developed a sustainable green photocatalytic technique for removal of

microplastics from water using visible light. It was reported that photocatalytic
degradation of microplastics, polypropylene (PP) (spherical particles) under visible light
irradiation for two weeks of zinc oxide nanorods (ZnO NRs) (immobilized onto glass fibers)
resulted in reduction of the average particle volume by 65%. The
main photodegradation by-products were identified as mostly nontoxic in nature as evident
from GC/MS analysis.

Liu et al.23 synthesized BiVO4/Ag3VO4 composite via a combination of hydrothermal and

chemical deposition process. Then they used it for degradation of methylene blue under
visible light. It was revealed that 40%BiVO4/Ag3VO4 composite exhibited excellent
photocatalytic degradation properties with rate constant 0.05588 min −1, which was about
1.76 and 22.76 times than that of Ag3VO4 (0.03167 min−1) and BiVO4 (0.00247 min−1),
respectively. It was observed that this composite is stable and it could retain around 90% of
its initial photocatalytic activity even after four cycles.

Badvi and Javanbakht24 prepared ZSM-5/TiO2 nanophotocatalysts by dispersing TiO2 onto

the surface of the ZSM-5 zeolite via sole-gel method. It was followed by calcination at
different temperatures and finally modified with different amounts of nickel nanoparticles.

124
 Photocatalysis for Waste Water Treatment

Its activity for degradation of methylene blue was observed under UV light irradiation and
it was compared with other methods such as catalytic hydrogen peroxide oxidation,
hydrogen peroxide-assisted photocatalytic degradation and adsorption processes. It was
reported that highest UV photocatalytic degradation efficiency of MB could be obtained as
99.80% on using 0.5% nickel nanoparticle calcined at 600 °C.

Kumar et al.25 prepared pristine copper and iron layered double hydroxide (LDH) doped
with zirconium via coprecipitation method. Then they embedded it with reduced graphene
oxide. As-prepared composite (ZrRGOCuFe LDHs) was used for photodegradation of
methylene blue in aqueous solution. Here, pristine CuFe LDH was doped with Zr and RGO
to afford better heterogeneous catalysts within ZrRGOCuFe LDH dopants and band gap
was obtained between 1.74 and 2.0 eV.

It was revealed that higher photodegradation efficiency of 95.2% could be achieved using
this photocatlyst within 75 min at pH 7, photocatalyst dosage (1.0 g L−1) and methylene
blue (10 ppm) under visible light irradiation. It was also observed that 92% total organic
content was removed. The catalyst has stability and reusability even after three successive
cycles.

Peerakiatkhajohn et al.26 synthesized ZnO and aluminum doped ZnO nanoparticles (Al/ZnO
NPs) through sol-gel method at calcination temperatures (200, 300 and 400° C) and
different Al dosage (1, 3, 5 and 10%). It was observed that structure of ZnO NPs were
spherical, nanorod and nanoflake for calcination temperatures at 200, 300 and 400° C,
respectively. It was also revealed that ZnO NPs calcined at 200° C exhibited higher removal
efficiency of methylene orange (80%) after 4 h under the UV light irradiation, due to more
light absorption property and highest specific surface area, while 5% Al/ZnO samples
displayed 99% removal efficiency in only 40 min, which was almost 20 times higher in
photocatalytic activity as compared to pristine ZnO under visible light irradiation.

Qutub et al.27 prepared cadmium sulphide nanostructures doped with titanium oxide
(CdS/TiO2) nanocomposites via a modified chemical precipitation method. The
photocatalytic efficiency of TiO2/CdS nanocomposites was evaluated in the visible region.
It was observed that as-prepared CdS-TiO2 nanocomposites exhibited the highest
photocatalytic activity (84%) in photocatalytic degradation of acid blue 29 (AB-29), while
CdS and TiO2 showed only 68 and 09% after 1 h and 30 min of visible light irradiation,
respectively. This increased photocatalytic effectiveness of CdS-TiO2 has been attributed to
reduced charge carrier recombination and extension of TiO 2 in response to visible light.

Almehizia et al.28 prepared ZnO nanoparticles via combustion method using L-alanine, L-
arginine and L-valine as organic fuels. It was reported that average crystallite size of these
samples was 25.24, 31.11, and 35.65 nm on using L-arginine, L-valine, and L-alanine fuels,
respectively. It was observed that these ZnO samples were of irregular, hexagonal, and
spherical shapes respectively. The band gap of these ZnO samples was found to be 3.30,
2.88, and 2.63 eV, respectively. It was also revealed that these samples could degrade
50 mL of methylene blue (10 mg L−1) dye under UV irradiations by 54.69, 41.34, and
30.76% in one and half h, respectively, however, it reached to 100% in presence of hydrogen
peroxide within 70 min in case of L-arginine as fuel.

125
Sustainable Development in 21st Century Through Clean Environment

Verma et al.29 synthesized titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO 2 NPs) and titanium dioxide-
graphene oxide (T/G) nanocomposites. They used both; TiO 2NPs and T/G nanocomposites
for photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue and malachite green. It was reported that
85 and 93 % of malachite green and methylene blue could be degraded in 13 and 60 min,
respectively under visible light irradiation.

Wang et al.30 constructed Z-scheme AgI/Sb2WO6 heterojunction via a chemical-

precipitation method. It was used for photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B
and tetracycline under visible light illumination. It was reported that about 95 and 80%
degradation could be achieved in 12 and 8 min, which is 10.8 and 11.4 times higher with
Sb2WO6, alone respectively.

Hwang et al.31 synthesized a multifunctional photocatalyst via metal oxides loaded (Co/Pd)
on acid-treated TiO2 nanorods (ATO) and then introduced hydrogen via annealing
treatment. It was observed that hydrogen-treated photocatalyst (Pd (1) Co (1)/ATO (red))
exhibited high degradation efficiencies of 99.63 and 99.90% for orange II and bisphenol A
(BPA) degradation in 3 h respectively.

Pandeya et al.32 fabricated a series of splendid flexible CdS/TiO2 (CdS/TZ) nanofibrous

membranes (NFMs) and used for photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange. It was
reported that degradation efficiency of CdS/TiO 2 was 96.8% in 1 h and photocatalyst
retained its photocatalytic activity up to five consecutive cycles. It was also revealed that
chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency for TiO 2 membrane alone was 74.16%,
only, which was increased to 91.66% for composite CdS/TiO2 membrane.

Masekela et al.33 immobilized tri-component (Sb-ZnO/MoS2) on fluorine-doped tin oxide

(FTO). Then they used as-developed tri-component for catalytic degradation of methyl
orange (MO), methylene blue (MB), and ciprofloxacin (CIP) under light and ultrasonic
vibration. It was reported that coupling of light (photocatalysis) and ultrasonic irradiation
(piezocatalysis) exhibited greater degradation efficiencies of 95, 82, and 72% for methylene
blue, methylene orange, and ciprofloxacin, respectively. It was also revealed that degree of
mineralization was 76, 70, and 52% for MB, MO, and CIP, respectively as evident from
total organic carbon (TOC) analysis.

Qing et al.34 prepared composite membranes using polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) as the
substrate, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as the dispersing agent & wettability regulator and
cuprous oxide as the photocatalyst. These membranes were used for photocatalytic
degradation of methyl orange (MO), methylene blue (MB), and Congo red (CR). It was also
revealed that higher photocatalytic degradation ratio for methyl orange (93.6%) was there.
This as-prepared membrane also had excellent recycling stability, and it can retain its
removal ability to 92.1% even after using it 5 times. It was reported that these composite
membranes also displayed high removal ability of methylene blue (81.4) and (76.1%).

Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are emerging as a potential technology for the
treatment of pollutant water. Out of these, photocatalysis plays a dominant role to degrade
organic contaminants to almost harmless or less harmful products. It is also a green chemical
pathway as it takes care of environment in advance.

126
 Photocatalysis for Waste Water Treatment

15.5 References:

1. Ledakowicz, S., Solecka, M., and Zylla, R., Biodegradation, decolourisation and
detoxification of textile wastewater enhanced by advanced oxidation processes, J.
Biotechnol.,2001, 89(2-3), 175-184.
2. Tang, J., Zou, Z., Yin, J., and Ye, J., Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue on
CaIn2O4under visible light irradiation, Chem. Phys. Lett., 2003, 382(1-2), 175-179
3. Liqiang, J., Baiqi, W., Baifu, X., Shudan, L., Keying, S., Weimin, C., et al.,
Investigations on the surface modification of ZnO nanoparticle photocatalyst by
depositing Pd, J. Solid State Chem.,2004, 177(11), 4221-4227.
4. Chen, F., Zou, W., Qu, W., and Zhang, J., Photocatalytic performance of a visible light
TiO2 photocatalyst prepared by a surface chemical modification process, Catal.
Commun., 2009, 10(11), 1510-1513.
5. Wu, Y., Xing, M., Zhang, J., and Chen, F., Effective visible light-active boron and
carbon modified TiO2 photocatalyst for degradation of organic pollutant, Appl. Catal.
B: Environ., 2010, 97(1-2), 182-189.
6. Pan, C., and Zhu, Y., New type of BiPO4 oxy-acid salt photocatalyst with high
photocatalytic activity on degradation of dye, Environ. Sci. Technol.,2010, 44(14),
5570-5574.
7. Yu, H., Xu, L., Wang, P., Wang, X., and Yu, J., Enhanced photoinduced stability and
photocatalytic activity of AgBr photocatalyst by surface modification of Fe (III)
cocatalyst, Appl. Catal. B: Environ., 2014,144, 75-82.
8. Bai, X., Wang, L., Wang, Y., Yao, W., and Zhu, Y., Enhanced oxidation ability of g-
C3N4 photocatalyst via C60 modification, Appl. Catal. B: Environ., 2014, 152, 262-270.
9. Tripathy, N., Ahmad, R., Song, J. E., Ko, H. A., Hahn, Y. B., and Khang, G.,
Photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange dye by ZnO nanoneedle under UV
irradiation, Mater. Lett., 2014,136, 171-174.
10. Balcha, A., Yadav, O. P., and Dey, T., Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue
dye by zinc oxide nanoparticles obtained from precipitation and sol-gel
methods, Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res., 2016, 23, 25485-25493. doi.org/10.1007/ s11356-
016-7750-6.
11. Thi, V. H. T., and Lee, B. K., Effective photocatalytic degradation of paracetamol using
La-doped ZnO photocatalyst under visible light irradiation, Mater. Res. Bull., 2017, 96,
171-182.
12. Sudrajat, H., and Babel, S., A novel visible light active N-doped ZnO for photocatalytic
degradation of dyes, J. Water Process. Eng., 2017, 16, 309-318.
13. Wu, Y., Wang, H., Tu, W., Liu, Y., Tan, Y. Z., Yuan, X., et al., Quasi-polymeric
construction of stable perovskite-type LaFeO3/g-C3N4 heterostructured photocatalyst
for improved Z-scheme photocatalytic activity via solid pn heterojunction interfacial
effect, J. Hazard. Mater., 2018, 347, 412-422.
14. Huang, S., Chen, C., Tsai, H., Shaya, J., and Lu, C., Photocatalytic degradation of
thiobencarb by a visible light-driven MoS2 photocatalyst, Sep. Purif. Technol.,
2018, 197, 147-155.
15. Jiang, L., Yuan, X., Zeng, G., Wu, Z., Liang, J., Chen, X., et al., Metal-free efficient
photocatalyst for stable visible-light photocatalytic degradation of refractory
pollutant, Appl. Catal. B: Environ., 2018, 221, 715-725.
16. Lu, C., Guo, F., Yan, Q., Zhang, Z., Li, D., Wang, L., et al., Hydrothermal synthesis of
type II ZnIn2S4/BiPO4 heterojunction photocatalyst with dandelion-like microflower

127
Sustainable Development in 21st Century Through Clean Environment

structure for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline under simulated solar

light, J. Alloys Compd., 2019, 811, doi.org/10.1016/ j.jallcom.2019.151976.
17. Mahanthappa, M., Kottam, N., and Yellappa, S., Enhanced photocatalytic degradation
of methylene blue dye using CuSCdS nanocomposite under visible light
irradiation, Appl. Surf. Sci., 2019, 475, 828-838.
doi.org/10.1016/ j. apsusc.2018.12.178.
18. Tichapondwa, S. M., Newman, J. P., and Kubheka, O., Effect of TiO 2 phase on the
photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye, Phys. Chem. Earth., Parts
A/B/C, 2020, 118, doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2020.102900.
19. Kiwaan, H. A., Atwee, T. M., Azab, E. A., and El-Bindary, A. A., Photocatalytic
degradation of organic dyes in the presence of nanostructured titanium dioxide, J. Mol.
Struct., 2020, 1200, doi.org/10.1016/j.molstruc.2019.127115.
20. Tripathi, R. M., Hameed, P., Rao, R. P., Shrivastava, N., Mittal, J., and Mohapatra, S.,
Biosynthesis of highly stable fluorescent selenium nanoparticles and the evaluation of
their photocatalytic degradation of dye, Bionanosci., 2020,10, 389-396.
21. Aziz, A., Ali, N., Khan, A., Bilal, M., Malik, S., Ali, N., and Khan, H., Chitosan-zinc
sulfide nanoparticles, characterization and their photocatalytic degradation efficiency
for azo dyes, Int. J. Biol. Macromol., 2020, 153, 502-512.
doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2020.02.310
22. Uheida, A., Mejía, H. G., Abdel-Rehim, M., Hamd, W., and Dutta, J., Visible light
photocatalytic degradation of polypropylene microplastics in a continuous water flow
system, J. Hazard. Mater., 2021, 406, doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124299.
23. Liu, L., Hu, T., Dai, K., Zhang, J., and Liang, C., A novel step-scheme BiVO4/Ag3VO4
photocatalyst for enhanced photocatalytic degradation activity under visible light
irradiation, Chinese J. Catal., 2021, 42(1), 46-55.
24. Badvi, K., and Javanbakht, V., Enhanced photocatalytic degradation of dye
contaminants with TiO2 immobilized on ZSM-5 zeolite modified with nickel
nanoparticles, J. Clean. Prod., 2021, 280, doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124518.
25. Kumar, O. P., Ashiq, M. N., Shah, S. S. A., Akhtar, S., Obaidi, M. A. A., Mujtaba, et
al., Nanoscale ZrRGOCuFe layered double hydroxide composites for enhanced
photocatalytic degradation of dye contaminant, Mater. Sci. Semicond. Process., 2021,
128, doi.org/10.1016/j.mssp.2021.105748.
26. Peerakiatkhajohn, P., Butburee, T., Sul, J. H., Thaweesak, S., and Yun, J. H., Efficient
and rapid photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange dye using Al/ZnO
nanoparticles, Nanomater., 2021, 11(4), doi.org/10.3390/nano11041059.
27. Qutub, N., Singh, P., Sabir, S., Sagadevan, S., and Oh, W. C., Enhanced photocatalytic
degradation of acid blue dye using CdS/TiO 2 nanocomposite, Sci. Rep., 2022, 12(1),
doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-09479-0.
28. Almehizia, A. A., Al-Omar, M. A., Naglah, A. M., Bhat, M. A., and Al-Shakliah, N. S.,
Facile synthesis and characterization of ZnO nanoparticles for studying their biological
activities and photocatalytic degradation properties toward methylene blue dye, Alex.
Eng. J., 2022, 61(3), 2386-2395. doi.org/10.1016/j.aej.2021.06.102.
29. Verma, N., Chundawat, T. S., Chandra, H., and Vaya, D., An efficient time reductive
photocatalytic degradation of carcinogenic dyes by TiO2-GO nanocomposite, Mater.
Res. Bull., 2023, 158, doi.org/10.1016/j.materresbull. 2022.112043.
30. Z. Wang, W. Li, J. Wang, Y. Li, G. Zhang, Novel Z-scheme AgI/Sb2
WO6 heterostructure for efficient photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants under

128
 Photocatalysis for Waste Water Treatment

visible light: Interfacial electron transfer pathway, DFT calculation and mechanism
unveiling, Chemosphere, 311, 2023
doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.137000
31. I. S. Hwang, V. Manikandan, R. P. Patil, M. A. Mahadik, W.-S. Chae, H.-S. Chung,
S. H. Choi, and J. S. Jang, Hydrogen-treated TiO2 nanorods decorated with bimetallic
Pd–Co nanoparticles for photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants and bacterial
inactivation, ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 2023 6 (3), 1562-1572
32. doi: 10.1021/acsanm.2c04160
33. S. Pandeya, R. Ding, Y. Ma, X. Han, M. Gui, P. Mulmi, K. P. Panthi, B.
B. Neupane, H. R. Pant, Z. Li, M. K. Joshi, Self-standing CdS/TiO2 Janus nanofiberous
membrane: COD removal, antibacterial activity and photocatalytic degradation of
organic pollutants,
J. Environ. Chem. Eng., 12(3), 2024 doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2024.112521
34. D. Masekela, N. C. Hintsho-Mbita, L. N. Dlamini, T. L. Yusuf, N. Mabuba, Internal
piezoelectric field produced by tri-component (FTO: Sb-ZnO/MoS2) thin film for
enhanced photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants and antibacterial activity,
Mater. Today Commun., 38, 2024 doi.org/10.1016/j.mtcomm.2024.108500
35. Q. Qing, S.-Y. Chen, S.-Z. Hu, L. Li, T. Huang, N. Zhang, and Y. Wang, highly
efficient photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants using a polyvinylidene
fluoride/polyvinylpyrrolidone-cuprous oxide composite membrane,
Langmuir 2024 40 (2), 1447-1460, doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.3c03168

129

View publication stats