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Solar Chemistry and Photocatalysis: Environmental Applications

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A special issue of Catalysts (ISSN 2073-4344). This special issue belongs to the section "Photocatalysis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2022) | Viewed by 8695

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Paola Calza

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Guest Editor

Department of Chemistry, University of Torino, Via P. Giuria, 5, 10125 Torino, Italy
Interests: heterogeneous photocatalysis; water treatments; study of the fate ofcontaminants of emerging concern; soil pollution

Prof. Dr. Sixto Malato

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Guest Editor

Plataforma Solar de Almería-CIEMAT. Ctra. Senés km 4, 04200 Tabernas (Almería), Spain
Interests: heterogeneous and homogeneous (photo-Fenton) photocatalysis; solar photoreactors; solar disinfection; photocatalysts evaluation; wastewater treatment; microcontaminants elimination; photofuels production by photocatalysis
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue comprises selected papers from the Proceedings of the 11th European Conference on Solar Chemistry and Photocatalysis: Environmental Applications (SPEA11) that will be held from 6 to 10 June 2022 in Turin, Italy.

The European Conference on Solar Chemistry and Photocatalysis: Environmental Applications (SPEA), started in 2000, reports the advances and future challenges in the field of photocatalysis, solar photochemistry, and environment-related applications.

The SPEA11 edition will cover research fields as varied as the following:

Process fundamentals, modeling, and mechanistic studies;
New materials and hybrid systems for photocatalysis and solar light utilization;
Environmental photochemistry and photocatalysis;
Green synthesis, H₂production, and CO₂ utilization by solar photochemistry and photocatalysis;
Air treatment;
Water treatment and disinfection;
Photo(catalytic) reactors, theory, and applications;
Standardization and commercial applications.

Prof. Dr. Paola Calza
Prof. Dr. Sixto Malato

Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Catalysts is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

photocatalysis
photocatalytic reactors
environmental photochemistry
air treatment
water treatment
solar utilization
green synthesis
new materials
CO₂ utilization

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 3551 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

A Parametric Study of the Crystal Phases on Au/TiO₂ Photocatalysts for CO₂ Gas-Phase Reduction in the Presence of Water

by Clément Marchal, Caroline Mary, Leila Hammoud, Qingyang Xi, Joumana Toufaily, Tayssir Hamieh, Luka Suhadolnik, Paolo Fornasiero, Christophe Colbeau-Justin, Valérie Caps, Thomas Cottineau and Valérie Keller

Catalysts 2022, 12(12), 1623; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal12121623 - 10 Dec 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1343

Abstract

Au/TiO₂ photocatalysts were studied, characterized, and compared for CO₂ photocatalytic gas-phase reduction. The impact of the nature of the TiO₂ support was studied. It was shown that the surface area/porosity/TiO₂ crystal phase/density of specific exposed facets and oxygen vacancies were the key factors determining CH₄ productivity under solar-light activation. A 0.84 wt.% Au/TiO₂ SG (Sol Gel) calcined at 400 °C exhibited the best performance, leading to a continuous mean CH₄ production rate of 50 μmol.h⁻¹.g⁻¹ over 5 h, associated with an electronic selectivity of 85%. This high activity was mainly attributed to the large surface area and accessible microporous volume, high density of exposed TiO₂ (101) anatase facets, and oxygen vacancies acting as reactive defects sites for CO₂ adsorption/activation/dissociation and charge carrier transport. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Solar Chemistry and Photocatalysis: Environmental Applications)

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16 pages, 3470 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mild Fenton Processes for the Removal of Preservatives: Interfering Effect of Methylisothiazolinone (MIT) on Paraben Degradation

by Victoria Duarte-Alvarado, Lucas Santos-Juanes, Antonio Arques and Ana María Amat

Catalysts 2022, 12(11), 1390; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal12111390 - 9 Nov 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1262

Abstract

The degradation of various preservatives used in the cosmetics industry, including five parabens and their most employed substitute, methylisothiazolinone (MIT), was investigated. A mild photo-Fenton process was applied using low iron concentrations (5 mg/L) at a pH of five, instead of the traditional acidic value of three. At these conditions, the paraben degradation was very low after one hour of reaction and it was necessary to present humic-like substances (HLS) acting as iron chelators to improve the process. Values obtained when MIT was treated were very low, also in the presence of HLS, indicating that their complexing effect was not acting properly. When MIT was added to the mixture of parabens an inhibitory effect was found in the presence of HLS. A possible complex between iron and MIT was suggested and the studies of hydrogen peroxide consumption and Job’s plot technique confirmed this hypothesis. Evidence of the formation of this inactive complex, so far never reported, will be essential in future work when dealing with this compound using Fenton processes. Furthermore, this fact points out the importance of using mixtures of model contaminants instead of a single one or a group of the same family, since their ability to form active or inactive complexes with iron can strongly change the behavior of the whole system. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Solar Chemistry and Photocatalysis: Environmental Applications)

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15 pages, 2686 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Synthesis and Use of Silica Xerogels Doped with Iron as a Photocatalyst to Pharmaceuticals Degradation in Water

by Cinthia Berenice García-Reyes, Jacob J. Salazar-Rábago, Manuel Sánchez Polo and Ventura Castillo Ramos

Catalysts 2022, 12(11), 1341; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal12111341 - 2 Nov 2022

Viewed by 1452

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to assess the photoactive properties of iron-doped silica xerogels under solar radiation. For this purpose, silica xerogels (XGS) synthesized by the sol-gel method were doped with Fe (III) by two routes: impregnation and polymerization. XGS samples were texturally and chemically characterized by N₂ adsorption, XRD, FTIR, Raman, SEM-EDX, DRS, and PL, evidencing the suitability of using XGS substrates to host iron clusters on their surface with total compatibility. Chlorphenamine (CPM), ciprofloxacin (CIP), and ranitidine (RNT) were used as model compounds. The degradation of the molecules was made under simulated solar radiation testing the synthesis pad, load, material size, and reuse. It was found that XGS doped with Fe by the impregnation route (XGS-Fe-Im) were able to completely degrade CPM and RNT in 30 min and 10 min, respectively, whilst for CIP it achieved the removal of 60% after 1 h of solar radiation exposure, outperforming parent materials and solar radiation by itself. The study of the degradation mechanism elucidated a major influence from the action of HO• radicals. The present investigation offers a potential route of application of XGS Fe-doped materials for the removal of emerging concern contaminants under near real-world conditions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Solar Chemistry and Photocatalysis: Environmental Applications)

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Review

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21 pages, 2574 KiB

Open AccessReview

More than One Century of History for Photocatalysis, from Past, Present and Future Perspectives

by Fabrizio Sordello, Paola Calza, Claudio Minero, Sixto Malato and Marco Minella

Catalysts 2022, 12(12), 1572; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal12121572 - 3 Dec 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3263

Abstract

In this review, we analyzed the history and the past and present trends in photocatalysis research, trying to outline possible scenarios for the future in the medium term. The in-depth analysis of the literature reported here—from a mere bibliometric point of view—allowed us to divide the history of photocatalysis into four different periods characterized by different maturity of the topic and different bibliometric features. The turn of the 20th century saw an explosion in scientific production, which is still continuing now and has reached more than 15,000 papers published each year. Research interest is still growing significantly, and the analysis of different keywords suggests that such growth is substantial and not merely due to “publish or perish” behavior. The analysis of the most-investigated topics in the field of photocatalysis highlighted that, during its history, the focus of the research moved from inorganic oxides to carbon and hybrid materials. Concomitantly, the investigation of the “geography” of photocatalysis allowed us to underline its evolution over the years, with the repositioning of its center of mass from the Atlantic Ocean (USA and Europe) to Asia (China and India). Photocatalysis is active as never before but still awaiting major breakthroughs, which would allow a much broader technological and commercial output. Without such breakthroughs in this decade, the growth in scientific interest could level out or even decrease. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Solar Chemistry and Photocatalysis: Environmental Applications)

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