Prototype composite membranes of partially reduced graphene oxide/TiO2 for photocatalytic ultrafiltration water treatment under visible light

Athanasekou, Chrysoula P.; Morales Torres, Sergio; Likodimos, V.; Romanos, G.E.; Pastrana Martínez, Luisa María; Falaras, P.; Faria, Joaquim L.; Figueiredo, José L.; Silva, Adrián M.T.

doi:10.1016/j.apcatb.2014.04.012

Accepted manuscript (560.3Ko)

Identificadores

URI: https://hdl.handle.net/10481/88214

DOI: 10.1016/j.apcatb.2014.04.012

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Editorial

Elsevier

Date

2014-10

Referencia bibliográfica

Published version: Applied Catalysis B: Environmental Volumes 158–159, 2014, Pages 361-372. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2014.04.012

Patrocinador

Financial support for this work was provided by project PTDC/AAC-AMB/122312/2010, co-financed by FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) and FEDER through Programme COMPETE (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-019503). This work was also co-financed by FCT and FEDER through project PEst-C/EQB/LA0020/2013 (COMPETE), and by QREN, ON2 and FEDER through project NORTE-07-0162-FEDER-000050. SMT and LMPM acknowledge financial support from SFRH/BPD/74239/2010 and SFRH/BPD/88964/2012, respectively. A.M.T. Silva acknowledges the FCT Investigator 2013 Programme (IF/01501/2013), with financing from the European Social Fund and the Human Potential Operational Programme. The authors also acknowledge financial support by the European Commission (Clean Water—Grant Agreement no. 227017). Part of this research has been co-financed by the European Union (European Social Fund A - ESF) and Greek national funds through the Operational Program “Education and Lifelong Learning” of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) - Research Funding Program: Thales “AOP-NanoMat” (MIS 379409).

Résumé

A highly efficient hybrid photocatalytic/ultrafiltration process is demonstrated for water purification using visible light. The process relies on the development of partially reduced graphene oxide/TiO2 composite membranes and their incorporation into an innovative water purification device that combines membrane filtration with semiconductor photocatalysis. Composites consisting of graphene oxide sheets decorated with TiO2 nanoparticles were deposited and stabilized into the pores of ultrafiltration mono-channel monoliths using the dip-coating technique. Cross-flow and dead-end filtration experiments were sequentially conducted in dark, under UV and visible light. The membrane surface was irradiated for the elimination of two synthetic azo-dyes, methyl orange and methylene blue, from water solutions. The synergetic effects of graphene oxide on pollutant adsorption and photocatalytic degradation capacity of TiO2 were thoroughly studied, while the influence of the pore size of the monolithic substrate on the deposition morphologies was also elucidated. Moreover, the performance of the novel hybrid process was compared with that of standard nanofiltration with respect to pollutant removal efficiency and energy consumption, providing firm evidence for its economic feasibility and efficiency

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