Modifying titanium dioxide photocatalysts for sustainable wastewater remediation

Title : Modifying titanium dioxide photocatalysts for sustainable wastewater remediation

Abstract:

Wastewater remediation using solar light-driven photocatalytic degradation (SLPD) is a sustainable, green, and cost-effective method. This requires a highly stable, non-toxic semiconductor that can harness SL to break down hazardous organic pollutants (such as dyes, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals) into harmless byproducts (such as CO? and H?O) via a clean, solar-driven oxidation process. Further, for practical application, the photocatalyst (PC) must be recyclable and able to be recovered from water. . Titanium Dioxide (TiO₂) is an extensively studied and popular photocatalyst due to its low cost, non-toxicity, and stability, yet its efficiency is limited by its wide band gap energy (~3.2 eV), narrowing down its absorptivity to the UV region of just ~4% of the solar spectrum and rapid electron hole recombination. To improve its sustainability and efficiency, scientists commonly use techniques such as heteroatom doping, facet engineering to enhance reactivity, attaching TiO? to magnetic cores and carbon-based materials, and so on. Coupling TiO₂ with carbonaceous materials, including fullerene, graphene, carbon dots, and activated carbon, can facilitate effective charge separation through interfacial electron transfer, thereby improving electron-hole separation and conductivity and narrowing the band gap. Heterostructure formation with materials such as MoS₂ or exposure of high-energy (001) facets further enhances the reactivity and adsorption of organic pollutants. The talk will cover strategies to enhance the efficiency of TiO₂ PC for wastewater remediation and approaches towards highly recyclable and recoverable TiO₂, which can pave the way towards practical applications.

Biography:

K. Y. Sandhya is currently a professor in the Department of Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Space Science & Technology (IIST), Thiruvananthapuram. She received her Ph.D. in Science from National Institute of Interdisciplinary Science & Technology (NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram. She has PDF experience from Raman Research Institute, Bangalore, and the University of Medicine and Dentistry (Robert Wood Johnson Medical School), affiliated with Rutgers University, New Jersey, and was a scientist at the Sree Chitra Thirunal Institute of Medical Science & Technology (SCTIMST), Thiruvananthapuram. She has ~70 papers in international journals and 2 book chapters to her credit. Her work has been featured as cover pages in many reputed journals of RSC, Wiley, and ACS, and she acts as a reviewer for papers in many of the journals. Her current research interests focus on sustainable materials and methods, including developing photocatalysts for the removal of pollutants from water, electrochemical sensors for biomolecules and pollutants, and Electrode materials for advanced Li-ion batteries and supercapacitors.