Cobalt Doped Titania-Carbon Nanosheets with Induced Oxygen Vacancies for Photocatalytic Degradation of Complex Radioactive Waste
25 Pages Posted: 14 Jun 2022
Abstract
The photocatalytic degradation of uranium complexes is considered among the most efficient techniques for the efficient removal of uranium ions/complexes from radioactive wastewater. Described here is a nanostructured photocatalyst based on cobalt doped TiO 2 composite with induced oxygen vacancies (Co@TiO 2 -C) for the photocatalytic removal of uranium complex from contaminated water. The synergy between oxygen vacancies and Co-doping produced a material with a 1.7 eV bandgap, while the carbon network facilitates the electron movement and hinders the e-h recombination. As a result, the new photocatalyst enables the decomposition of uranium-arsenazo III complexes (U-ARZ3), followed by photocatalytic reduction of hexavalent uranium to insoluble tetravalent. Combined with the high surface area of the nanosheets structure, the efficiency and kinetics of the photocatalytic decomposition and reduction significantly enhanced, reaching almost full U(VI) removal in less than 20 minutes from solution with concentration as high as 1000 mL g -1 . Moreover, the designed photocatalyst exhibits excellent stability and reusability without decreasing the photocatalytic performance after 5 cycles.
Keywords: Photocatalytic degradation, Titanium cobalt photocatalysis, radioactive waste wastewater treatment
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