title: Photocatalytic degradation of aqueous pollutants using silica-modified TiO(2).
abstract: Photocatalytic degradation (PCD) of several aqueous pollutants was investigated using a porous silica-coated titanium dioxide (SiO(2)-TiO(2)) photocatalyst. Several cationic, neutral and anionic pollutants were tested. The results indicate that modifying the surface properties of TiO(2) using silica significantly enhances the PCD rate of the cationic pollutants. The rate enhancement decreased with an increase in substrate concentration, especially for the quaternary amines, and was attributed to the decrease in initial adsorption. However, no significant rate-increase resulted for acetate and phenol. Results suggest that the increased presence of cationic pollutants at the catalyst surface caused the rate enhancement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, Oita University, 700 Dannoharu, Oita 870-1192, Japan.
authors.forename: Muhammad Shariq
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Vohra
authors.forename: Keiichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tanaka
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D002384:Catalysis; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010777:Photochemistry; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000737:chemistry; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D013501:Surface-Active Agents; D014873:Water Pollutants; C009495:titanium dioxide; D012822:Silicon Dioxide; D014025:Titanium