ENHANCED VISIBLE-LIGHT PHOTOCATALYTIC DEGRADATION OF ERYTHROMYCIN BY Pd/GRAPHENE OXIDE-TIO2 COMPOSITES

LUCÍA ROSSI; SERGIO MORALES-TORRES; LUISA M. PASTRANA-MARTÍNEZ; PAULA I. VILLABRILLE; JANINA A. ROSSO; FRANCISCO J. MALDONADO-HÓDAR

Zaragoza

Simposio; IX CARBOCAT; 2022

Universidad de Zaragoza-

Heterogenous photocatalysis has demonstrated to be a promising option in water treatment, while nanotechnology opens a gate for the development of high-efficient and stable photocatalysts. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) has been broadly used as photocatalyst in the removal of organic pollutants due to its high chemical stability, low cost, low toxicity, and exceptional electronic and optical properties [1], but it possesses a poor photoactivity in the visible range. To overcome this severe limitation, different carbon materials have been used to prepare TiO2-based photocatalysts with enhanced catalytic properties, as well as noble metals (e.g., Ag, Au, Pt, Pd) acted as electron trapping sites promoting interfacial charge transfer processes in the resulting composites. In particular, the use of composites based on nanostructured TiO2 and graphene oxide (GO) or reduced graphene oxide (rGO) is an interesting topic of research in photocatalysis, because an enhancement of the properties of the materials is expected to occur, due to a synergic interaction between both phases at the nanoscale [2] as well as to provide anchoring sites for noble-metal particles. The aim of this work was to prepare Pd-doped rGO-TiO2 composites by the sol-gel process and subsequently different pre-treatments, such as thermal treatment in N2 atmosphere and hydrothermal treatment were also carried out. The effect of the synthesis conditions on the properties of each material was studied and its photocatalytic activity was evaluated for the degradation of erythromycin A (Ery-A) under simulated solar and LED-visible irradiations.