Design of nanostructured Prussian blue analogues deposited on TiO2 nanorods for enhancing the photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants

Abstract

Industrial wastewater plays a significant part in environmental pollution. Some of the major constituents of industrial wastewater are organic and inorganic chemicals, pathogens, microplastics, and nitrogen- and phosphorus-rich compounds, that could threaten human beings ,biodiversity and ecosystem health. Thus, it has become crucial to remove recalcitrant organic contaminants from aquatic systems. Various technologies, such as physical, chemical, and biological treatments, have been researched. However, some of these techniques are expensive and present low efficiency. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure an efficient wastewater treatment process to reach the permissible levels of contaminants in water that must be released in the environment. In this view, TiO2 nanorods photocatalyst were coupled with Prussian Blue Analogue (Co-Fe PBA/TiO2) and deposited on glass fiber substrate for the degradation of Methylene Blue (MB)probe molecule. The degradation percentage of MB reached 52 % on the designed system , and ~ 59 % on PBA catalyst in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) after 45 minutes of irradiation under UV. The removal by photolysis under the same conditions without the intervention of the photocatalyst and H2O2 was estimated to be about 12.5%.