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TPA and PET Photo-Degradation by Heterogeneous Catalysis Using a (Al2O3)0.75TiO2 Coating
Summary
This study demonstrates that an aluminum oxide-titanium dioxide composite coating (Al2O3)0.75TiO2 can photocatalytically degrade terephthalic acid (TPA) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic under visible light, using a custom reactor system with ascending airflow to supply oxygen and UV-Vis spectrophotometry to quantify pollutant reduction.
The combination of the catalytic properties of Al2O3/TiO2 formed an efficient system to degrade the ubiquitous pollutants TPA and PET. The coating (Al2O3)0.75TiO2 was characterized by X-ray diffraction. Stainless steel disks with photo-catalyst coating were placed transversely in a 3.0 L vertical glass reactor with ascending airflow for supplying oxygen to the reaction medium and visible light lamps for photo-activation. The analysis of the coating homogeneity, morphology and particle size distribution of the TiO2 coatings and (Al2O3)0.75TiO2 system were confirmed by SEM. Optical properties and band-gap energy were calculated by using the Tauc equation. UV–Vis spectrophotometry (UV–Vis) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) were the quantitative techniques to measure the reduction in the initial TPA and PET concentrations.