Optimisation of titanium dioxide utilization in the process of photocatalysis of emerging pollutants

Emerging pollutants are those substances that may be candidates for future regulation on the basis of their (eco)toxicity, their potential effects on human health and the monitoring data on their presence and persistence in various environmental compartments. It is therefore a dynamic definition, which brings new substances or classes of substances, such as human and veterinary drugs, endocrine disruptors, perfluorinated compounds and others, to the attention of the planning and control bodies of the scientific and technical community. An antibiotic, Ciprofloxacin, is considered in this study. The aim of this research is to investigate if it is possible to use and optimize the technique of heterogeneous photocatalysis, with titanium oxide TiO2 and sunlight as a possible removal method for contaminants. Titanium oxide is one of the most used and reliable photocatalysts in the world. The tests were conducted with a Xenon lamp to simulate the spectrum of sunlight and a Mercury lamp emitting energy in the UV spectrum. First, the photodegradation of Ciprofloxacin with titanium dioxide was analyzed. Confirmed that the photocatalyst works in the ultraviolet range, research was carried out to improve the efficiency of the photocatalyst. Two types of TiO2 optimization were carried out. The first type was to dope the photocatalyst with iron to try to lower the required activation energy. The second type was to add flouride glass (ZBLAN) to the photocatalyst to enable up-conversion of the light produced by the Xenon lamp. It was found that it is possible to continue on the path of eliminating contaminants with green photocatalysis. There were good responses from the study on optimizing the photocatalyst; it is possible to improve the efficiency of the photocatalyst exposed to sunlight by doping with metals, or by adding luminescent material.