title: Carbon foams as catalyst supports for phenol photodegradation.
abstract: A carbon foam using coal tar pitch as precursor was prepared and investigated as support for titanium oxide for the photocatalytic degradation of phenol. The performance of the carbon foam/titania composite was compared to those of unsupported titania and other activated carbon composites from the literature. The photodegradation rate of phenol over the catalysts under UV illumination was fitted to the Langmuir-Hinshelwood model; data showed that the apparent rate constant of the carbon foam supported titania was almost three times larger than that of bare titania, and comparable to that of other carbon supported composites. Considering the low porous features of the carbon foam, this suggests that large surface area supports are not essential to achieve high degradation rates and efficiencies. Moreover, when titania is supported on the carbon foam large amounts of catechol are detected in solution after UV irradiation, indicating a better degradation efficiency.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Organic Chemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str. Bl. 9, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria; Instituto Nacional del Carbón (INCAR), CSIC, Oviedo 33080, Spain.
authors.forename: L F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Velasco
authors.affiliation: Institute of Organic Chemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str. Bl. 9, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tsyntsarski
authors.affiliation: Institute of Organic Chemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str. Bl. 9, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Petrova
authors.affiliation: Institute of Organic Chemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str. Bl. 9, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Budinova
authors.affiliation: Institute of Organic Chemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str. Bl. 9, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Petrov
authors.affiliation: Instituto Nacional del Carbón (INCAR), CSIC, Oviedo 33080, Spain.
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Parra
authors.affiliation: Instituto Nacional del Carbón (INCAR), CSIC, Oviedo 33080, Spain. Electronic address: conchi@incar.csic.es.
authors.forename: C O
authors.initials: CO
authors.lastname: Ania
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D002384:Catalysis; D003624:Darkness; D019800:Phenol / Q000737:chemistry*; D010777:Photochemistry; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays
chemical_list: D019800:Phenol; D002244:Carbon