Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
DESALINATION AND WATER TREATMENT, cilt.56, sa.9, ss.2522-2531, 2015 (SCI-Expanded)
Photocatalytic remediation technologies employing titanium dioxide (TiO2) particles have excellent applications due to the photoactive nature of this semiconductor. TiO2 nanoparticle immobilization to polymer can be considered as alternative technique for the production of cheap materials for water remediation. The aim of this study is to produce an anatase type nano TiO2 particles immobilized into or onto biodegradable polymer polycaprolactone (PCL), using simple solvent-cast processes. Produced materials were investigated and tested for photocatalytic reduction/removal of inorganic contaminant chromium(VI) ions from water. TiO2 immobilized polymer successfully reduced/removed Cr(VI) ions (0.1-0.03mM which is equal to 5-1.5mg/L, respectively) from aqueous solution at pH 2 employing UV light (365 or 254nm) source. Reduction of Cr(VI) ions to Cr(III) oxidation state was successful and the removal percentage was significantly high. TiO2 immobilized into PCL (at 5% w/w) removed almost 40 +/- 1% of Cr(VI) ions at 5ppm initial concentration. Presence of citric acid as positive hole scavenger promoted the removal percentage and it reached to 96 +/- 0.9% for 1.5ppm initial concentration after 150min exposure with 254nm light source. Photocatalytic removal was still high as much as firs run for the second and third cycles (95 +/- 1.5 and 89 +/- 2% removal after a 150min illumination, respectively). These results indicate that TiO2 immobilized material can be reused for several times after a simple remediation process. Furthermore, the material can be simply damped into soil and left for total biodegradation if it lost its photocatalytic properties.