title: Stacked waveguide reactors with gradient embedded scatterers for high-capacity water cleaning.
abstract: We present a compact water-cleaning reactor with stacked layers of waveguides containing gradient patterns of optical scatterers that enable uniform light distribution and augmented water-cleaning rates. Previous photocatalytic reactors using immersion, external, or distributive lamps suffer from poor light distribution that impedes scalability. Here, we use an external UV-source to direct photons into stacked waveguide reactors where we scatter the photons uniformly over the length of the waveguide to thin films of TiO2-catalysts. We also show 4.5 times improvement in activity over uniform scatterer designs, demonstrate a degradation of 67% of the organic dye, and characterize the degradation rate constant.
authors.forename: Syed Saad
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Ahsan
authors.forename: Abdurrahman
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gumus
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Erickson