TiO2-coated carbon felt(TCF)composite catalysts have been prepared via a supercritical treatment of titanium tetraisopropoxide(TTIP)as the precursor.The physical properties of the catalysts were characterized by means of thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis(TG–DTA),X-ray diffraction(XRD),fluorescence spectroscopy,scanning electron microscopy (SEM),and BET surface areas techniques.The photocatalytic activities of the materials were evaluated using the degradation of Congo red(CR)as a probe reaction.All the composites showed much higher photocatalytic activity than commercial P25 due to significant synergistic effects.Reused TCF retained high photocatalytic activity for degradation of CR.The photocatalytic efficiency in CR degradation was found to be strongly dependent on the TiO2-coating ratio and calcination temperature.A possible mechanism for the enhanced reactivity involves shuttling of electrons from TiO2 particles to the carbon felt(CF)as a result of an optimal arrangement in TCF that stabilizes charge separation and reduces charge recombination.In addition to the significant synergistic effects,the abundant spaces between adjacent carbon fibers allow UV light to penetrate into the felt-like photocatalyst to a considerable depth,so that a three-dimensional environment is available for the photocatalytic reaction.
TiO2-coated activated carbon surface （TAs） composites were prepared by a sol-gel method with supercritical pretreatment. The photocatalytic degradation of acid yellow （AY） was investigated under UV radiation to estimate activity of catalysts and determine the kinetics. And the effects of parameters including the initial concentration of AY, light intensity and TiO2 content in catalysts were examined. The results indicate that TAs has a higher efficiency in decomposition of AY than P25, pure TiO2 particles as well as the mixture of TiO2 powder and active carbon. The photocatalytic degradation rate is found to follow the pseudo-first order kinetics with respect to the AY concentration. The new kinetic model fairly resembles the classic Langmuir-Hinshelwood equation, and the rate constant is proportional to the square root of the light intensity in a wide range. However, its absorption performance depends on the surface areas of catalysts. The model fits quite well with the experimental data and elucidates phenomena about the effects of the TiO2 content in TAs on the degradation rate.
Fe-doped TiO 2 coated on activated carbon （Fe-TiO 2 /AC, FTA） composites were prepared by an improved sol-gel method and characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometry, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and BET surface area analysis. Obtained FTA composites were applied to the continuous treatment of dye wastewater in a dynamic reactor. The effects of Fe ion content, catalyst content, UV-lamp power and flowrate of the continuous treatment of dye wastewater on degradation efficiency were analyzed to determine the optimum operating conditions of dye wastewater degradation. Continuous photocatalytic experiments provided interesting results that FTA had a high chemical oxygen demand （COD） removal rate compared with TiO 2 , Fe doped TiO 2 （FT） and TiO 2 coated on activated carbon （TA）. In particular, when using the FTA catalyst with a Fe ion content of 0.33%, the kinetic content （k = 0.0376） of COD removal was more than the sum of both TA （0.0205） and 0.33% FT （0.0166）. FTA showed a high photoactivity because of a synergistic effect between Fe ions and AC on TiO 2 , which is higher than the individual effects of AC or Fe ions on TiO 2 . Additionally, for the photocatalytic degradation of dye wastewater, the optimum Fe ion content, catalyst content, UV-lamp power and flowrate were 0.33%, 6 g/L, 60 W （two lamps） and 300 mL/hr, respectively. An investigation of catalyst reuse revealed that the 0.33% FTA showed almost no deactivation in photocatalytic degradation of naturally treated wastewater.
Youji Li Jun Chen Jianben Liu Mingyuan Ma Wei Chen
