Development of a doped titania immobilised thin film multi tubular photoreactor.

Adams, Morgan; Skillen, Nathan; McCullagh, Cathy; Robertson, Peter K.J.

Abstract

This paper describes a novel doped titania immobilised thin film multi tubular photoreactor which has been developed for use with liquid, vapour or gas phase media. In designing photocatalytic reactors measuring active surface area of photocatalyst within the unit is one of the critical design parameters. This dictate greatly limits the applicability of any semi-conductor photocatalyst in industrial applications, as a large surface area equates to a powder catalyst. This demonstration of a thin film coating, doped with a rare earth element, novel photoreactor design produces a photocatalytic degradation of a model pollutant (methyl orange) which displayed a comparable degradation achieved with P25 TiO2. The use of lanthanide doping is reported here in the titania sol gel as it is thought to increase the electron hole separation therefore widening the potential useful wavelengths within the electromagnetic spectrum. Increasing doping from 0.5% to 1.0% increased photocatalytic degradation by ∼17% under visible irradiation. A linear relationship has been seen between increasing reactor volume and degradation which would not normally be observed in a typical suspended reactor system.

Citation

ADAMS, M., SKILLEN, N., MCCULLAGH, C., AL-KHATIB, S. and ROBERTSON, P.K.J. 2013. Development of a doped titania immobilised thin film multi tubular photoreactor. Applied catalysis B: Environmental [online], 130-131, pages 99-105. Avaialable from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2012.10.008

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 14, 2012
• Online Publication Date: Oct 22, 2012
• Publication Date: Feb 7, 2013
• Deposit Date: Oct 15, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 15, 2014
• Journal: Applied catalysis B: Environmental
• Print ISSN: 0926-3373
• Electronic ISSN: 1873-3883
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 130-131
• Pages: 99-105
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2012.10.008
• Keywords: Photocatalysis; Thin film; Titanium dioxide (TiO2); Lanthanides; Surface area
• Public URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10059/1059
• Contract Date: Oct 15, 2014