Luana Góes Soares
Laboratory of Ceramic Materials/Department of
Materials Engineering/Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre,
Brazil.
Email: lugoes.soares@gmail.com
Annelise Kopp Alves
Laboratory of Ceramic Materials/Department of
Materials Engineering/Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre,
Brazil.
Summary
The degradation of
organic contaminants by heterogeneous photocatalysis is a promising option to
replace conventional water treatment systems. The most used semiconductor in
photocatalysis is TiO 2 due to some specific characteristics, such
as: efficiency, stability, low toxicity and insolubility in water. However, TiO
2 has its photocatalytic capabilities activated by only 3% of the
solar spectrum. The doping of TiO 2 with other semiconductor metals
is an alternative to increase its photoactivity. In this work, TiO 2 and
TiO 2 fibers mixed with tungstic acid (H 2 WO 4 )
were obtained by electrospinning ,
characterized by: X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM),
and photodegradation tests of 125 mL of a 20 ppm solution of methyl orange dye.
The results indicate that the photocatalytic properties of the fibers were
influenced by: heat treatment temperature, band gap reduction and position of
the conduction band of WO 3 in relation to TiO 2 , which
inhibited the recombination of the electron/hole pair, allowing the transfer of
charges between the two semiconductors, increasing the efficiency of the
process.
Keywords: fibers, photodegradation, TiO 2 , WO 3 , semiconductors.
Reviewed by Current Scientific Journal
on
outubro 09, 2022
Rating:
