Nataša Novak Tušar
Prof. Dr.
National Institute of Chemistry, Dept. of Inorganic Chemistry and Technology
University of Nova Gorica
Lecture Title
Potential of photocatalysts in heterogeneous systems for the remediation of organic pollutants in water
Lecture Abstract
A review of the literature on photocatalysis shows that, over the past 10 years, there has been a steady flow of more than 1,300 international patents per year for various applications, mainly in the fields of pollution remediation, green chemical synthesis, and solar energy conversion. Pollution remediation, including the removal of organic pollutants from water, is the focus of this lecture.
In recent decades, contamination of water by organic contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) has become an increasingly serious environmental issue. Among the treatment technologies developed to address this problem, advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have attracted considerable attention. AOPs rely on the formation of highly reactive oxygen species that non-selectively oxidise organic pollutants, ultimately converting them into harmless end products such as H₂O, CO₂, and inorganic salts. One of the most widely studied AOPs is the Fenton reaction, which uses iron salts (the Fenton reagent) as homogeneous catalysts in combination with hydrogen peroxide as the oxidising agent. This process is well known for its high efficiency, environmental compatibility, and relatively low cost. However, conventional Fenton systems have notable disadvantages, including the need for strongly acidic conditions (optimal pH 2.8–3.5), the generation of large amounts of iron-containing sludge, and additional treatment steps to remove excess dissolved iron from the effluent. To address these challenges, alternative Fenton-like systems operating at near-neutral pH and based on heterogeneous catalysts have been proposed. In addition, the photo-Fenton strategy offers further potential by integrating photocatalytic processes, in which hydroxyl radicals (•OH) are generated through above-bandgap excitation of suitable photocatalysts.
In this lecture, we show that by carefully controlling photocatalyst morphology and optimising metal loading through appropriate synthesis methods, it is possible to develop efficient heterogeneous photo-Fenton-like systems. These tailored photocatalysts effectively degrade bisphenol A and coumarin as representative CECs, with coumarin also serving as a probe molecule for detecting •OH radicals.
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