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Removal of emerging pollutant dibutylhydroxytoluene from water with CNT/TiO2 catalysts in a visible LED photoreactor

  • Advanced Oxidation/Reduction Technologies: An Perspective from Iberoamerican Countries
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Abstract

For the photocatalytic degradation of antioxidant 2,6-di-tert-butyl-hydroxytoluene (BHT), several TiO2-based composites have been prepared in MWCNT from titanium isopropoxide and ethanol via supercritical CO2 synthesis followed by calcination at 400 °C. TEM and XRD showed uniform coverage of CNT by 10 nm TiO2 particles in the anatase form, and spectral analyses revealed the formation of CNT/TiO2 structure. Further, synthesized material displayed significant visible light absorption and absorption edge shifted to longer wavelengths. Once the material was characterized, the effect of adsorption and photochemical degradation of BHT was investigated in the wavelength range from 400 to 700 nm, in batch mode, by monitoring the concentrations of BHT as a function of time. CNT/TiO2 composites were more efficient than commercial TiO2 P25 in the photodegradation of the antioxidant. In particular, CNT50/TiO250, a composite with 50% by weight of CNT, was the best catalyst, stable, and completely degrading BHT within 30 min of exposure to visible light. The role played by different reactive oxidative species (h+, OH ·, 1O2, and \( {O}_2^{\bullet -} \)) in the photocatalytic reaction was also studied by using appropriate radical scavengers that inhibited the corresponding active species. Superoxide radical was found the main oxidizing agent.

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Data availability

Most data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information file. Anyway, further datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This work has been funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of the Spanish Government through Project CTM2016-79098-R.

The role of the funding body has been to approve the funding of the study proposed by the authors and supervise its development but without direct intervention in its design and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript.

The Regional Government of Castilla-La Mancha has also financed this work through a grant for the training of research personal in public research centers and companies [2016/9989)].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Biochemistry, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Avda. Carlos III, s/n, 45071, Toledo, Spain

    María Patricia de la Flor, Rafael Camarillo, Fabiola Martínez, Carlos Jiménez, Rafael Quiles & Jesusa Rincón

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  1. María Patricia de la Flor
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  2. Rafael Camarillo
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  3. Fabiola Martínez
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  4. Carlos Jiménez
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  5. Rafael Quiles
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  6. Jesusa Rincón
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Contributions

JR, PF, and RC contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by PF and RQ. Interpretation of the data was made by JR, PF, RC, and RQ. The first draft of the manuscript was written by JR, PF, and RC, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jesusa Rincón.

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de la Flor, M.P., Camarillo, R., Martínez, F. et al. Removal of emerging pollutant dibutylhydroxytoluene from water with CNT/TiO2 catalysts in a visible LED photoreactor. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 23720–23730 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11126-y

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