Simultaneous photocatalysis and adsorption based removal of inorganic and organic impurities from water by titania/activated carbon/carbonized epoxy nanocomposite
Abstract In the present study, we demonstrate the simultaneous efficient removal of heavy metals such as Pb(II), Cd(II) and Cr(III) ions as well as methylene blue (MB) dye from water by titania/activated carbon/carbonized epoxy (TiO 2 /AC/CE) nanocomposite with high activity and easy separation. A simple one-step solvothermal process is used for the synthesis of TiO 2 nanosphere for TiO 2 /AC/CE nanocomposite. The as-synthesized TiO 2 /AC/CE nanocomposite is characterized using XRD, SEM, TGA, BET, Raman, FTIR, and UV–vis spectroscopy. The adsorption/degradation characteristics of TiO 2 /AC/CE nanocomposite are evaluated with varying contact time and at a fixed solution pH. The addition of AC on TiO 2 significantly improves the activity of TiO 2 . The TiO 2 /AC/CE nanocomposite is found to be much active than bare TiO 2 nanoparticles and exhibits easy separation. Here, AC significantly enhances the surface area of the TiO 2 /AC/CE nanocomposite and suppresses the phase transition of TiO 2 from photoactive anatase to less active rutile. The performance of the TiO 2 /AC/CE nanocomposite for the decomposition of MB is found to be governed by the crystallinity of anatase phase of TiO 2 . For the removal of Pb(II) ions, the as-synthesized TiO 2 /AC/CE nanocomposite shows a high activity, where 97% of the Pb(II) ions are removed from aqueous solution.