article · Scientific Reports
Water scarcity concerns are driving the search for efficient, low-cost water purification technologies. A molten flux method was employed to synthesise aluminium-doped strontium titanate microcubes, which were subsequently loaded with rhodium chromium oxide and cobalt oxyhydroxide cocatalysts using an impregnation technique. The resulting cubic particles, measuring approximately 145 nanometres, demonstrated effective photocatalytic degradation of Congo red dye under both ultraviolet and visible light irradiation, outperforming standard P25 titanium dioxide. Doping with aluminium ions and generating surface oxygen vacancies reduced the material bandgap, while cocatalyst loading altered the semiconductor behaviour from n-type to p-type. The material maintained stable performance over five degradation cycles, with hydroxyl radicals identified as the primary reactive species driving dye breakdown. This approach provides an avenue for designing durable photocatalytic materials capable of operating across a wide light spectrum.
Industrial dye pollution poses a serious threat to global freshwater reserves. Standard photocatalytic treatments often rely only on ultraviolet light, which represents a tiny fraction of natural solar energy. Developing stable materials that function effectively under both ultraviolet and visible light improves the energy efficiency of water treatment systems, supporting cleaner industrial effluents and the broader conservation of clean water resources.
This work demonstrates an early-stage laboratory process relevant to industrial wastewater treatment, specifically for treating textile effluents contaminated with organic dyes. Potential users include municipal water facilities, environmental engineering firms, and industrial fabric processors seeking solar-driven purification methods. Because the material has only undergone five-cycle batch testing on simulated dye solutions in a laboratory setting, it remains far from market readiness and requires substantial pilot-scale validation and process optimisation.
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Abstract The continued pollution, waste, and unequal distribution of the limited amount of fresh water on earth are pushing the world into water scarcity crisis. Consequently, development of revolutionary, cost-effective, and efficient techniques for water purification is essential. Herein, molten flux method was used for the preparation of micro-sized Al-doped SrTiO 3 photocatalyst loaded with RhCr 2 O 3 and CoOOH cocatalysts via simple impregnation method for the photo-assisted degradation of Congo red dye under UV and visible irradiation compared with P25 standard photocatalyst. In addition, photoelectrochemical analysis was conducted to reveal the separation and transfer efficiency of the photogenerated e − /h + pairs playing the key role in photocatalysis. SEM and TEM analyses revealed that both P25 and the pristine SrTiO 3 have spherical shapes, while Al-doped SrTiO 3 and the sample loaded with cocatalysts have cubic shapes with a relatively higher particle size reaching 145 nm. In addition, the lowest bandgap is due to Al +3 ion doping and excessive surface oxygen vacancies, as confirmed by both UV–Vis diffuse-reflectance and XPS analyses. The loading of the cocatalysts resulted in a change in the bandgap from n-type (pristine SrTiO 3 and Al-SrTiO 3 ) into p-type (cocatalyst loaded sample) as exhibited by Mott–Schottky plots. Besides, the cocatalyst-loaded sample exhibited good performance stability after 5 cycles of the photocatalytic removal of Congo red dye. OH · radical was the primary species responsible for CR degradation as confirmed by experiments with radical scavengers. The observed performance of the prepared samples under both UV and visible light could foster the ongoing efforts towards more efficient photocatalysts for water purification.
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DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-33249-1
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