CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Transparent glass sponges are a new class of materials that can potentially be used foreffective light distribution in photocatalytic applications. In this work, transparent glasssponges are prepared by the polymer replica technique and coated with TiO2 to obtain ahighly efficient photocatalytic material.Necessary conditions for obtaining transparent open-celled glass sponges arepresented. The structure is characterized employing light microscopy and scanningelectron microscopy. In addition,  - computer tomography (-CT) volume imageanalysis was performed that allows the calculation of geometrical parameters like poresize and specific surface area (SSA) of the structure, required for application of the newmaterial.For photocatalytic application, the sponges have been coated with titanium dioxide(TiO2) by immersion in a suspension of TiO2 nanoparticles. The activity of the resultingcoatings has been tested with the model reaction of transformation of Cr(VI) to Cr(III) inaqueous solutions in the presence of EDTA at pH 2. The reaction kinetics could beadjusted to a first order reaction and the obtained rate constants have been employed toevaluate the photocatalytic activity. The activity of the sponges has been compared withthat of samples of glass plates coated with TiO2, and it has been found that the spongesexhibited a higher catalytic activity than the glass plates. The photocatalytic activityincreased with the porosity of the sponges, and the optimum sample was determinedbased on its photocatalytic performance and its mechanical stability. The results arepromissory for application in photoreactors for transformation of pollutants in water andair decontamination.