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A Heterostructure Metal Oxide Based Photoanode for Photoelectrocatalytic Degradation of Water Pollutants and Hydrogen Generation / Katie Davies

Swansea University Author: Katie Davies

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DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUthesis.61971

Abstract

With a growing population the production of medication and cleaning products has increased significantly. This has resulted in these compounds entering freshwater sources as current wastewater treatment technologies are unable to completely remove them. This can cause harm to aquatic and human life...

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Published: Swansea 2022
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Doctoral
Degree name: Ph.D
Supervisor: Pitchaimuthu, Sudhagar ; Watson, Trystand ; Kurnel, Moritz
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa61971
first_indexed 2022-11-21T12:26:57Z
last_indexed 2024-11-14T12:20:05Z
id cronfa61971
recordtype RisThesis
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spelling 2024-07-11T15:13:45.0463953 v2 61971 2022-11-21 A Heterostructure Metal Oxide Based Photoanode for Photoelectrocatalytic Degradation of Water Pollutants and Hydrogen Generation e68a8bf6a33dcff11558400a27fdcc33 Katie Davies Katie Davies true false 2022-11-21 EAAS With a growing population the production of medication and cleaning products has increased significantly. This has resulted in these compounds entering freshwater sources as current wastewater treatment technologies are unable to completely remove them. This can cause harm to aquatic and human life while increasing bacteria’s resistance to disinfectants. Therefore, this study focused on utilising photoelectrocatalysis (PEC) to determine its feasibility as an alternative process for removing pollutants from water. In this study a WO3/BiVO4 photoanode was successfully synthesised which could produce a high photocurrent of 2.75 mA/cm2. Utilising this photoanode with the optimised PEC operating parameters determined in this study a high degradation of ibuprofen (96%), benzyldimethyldodecylammonium chloride (100%) and sodium 2-naphthalenesulfonate (100%) was achieved. This demonstrated how successful the PEC system developed in this study was in degrading pollutants that current water treatment technologies struggle to remove. However, there were some drawbacks identified with utilising PEC. In relation solely to the ibuprofen degradation process, 4-isobutylacetophenone was identified by the mass spectrometer as one of the main by-products. This is an environmental concern as this compound is more hazardous than ibuprofen. Significantly, however it highlighted the importance of utilising a mass spectrometer to identify by-products produced during pollutant degradation and determine the toxicity of the resulting solution. A further drawback identified was that during the degradation of all the pollutants the pH of the treated solution was very acidic (2.59-2.75) which means a post-treatment step is required to help neutralise the solution. However, this study did evidence a significant benefit of utilising PEC in that it can produce considerable amounts of hydrogen with or without pollutant degradation. PEC can be utilised to produce hydrogen in a sustainable way. E-Thesis Swansea Photoelectrocatalysis, Photoanode, Pharmaceutical, Surfactants, Water Treatment, Hydrogen Generation 8 11 2022 2022-11-08 10.23889/SUthesis.61971 COLLEGE NANME Engineering and Applied Sciences School COLLEGE CODE EAAS Swansea University Pitchaimuthu, Sudhagar ; Watson, Trystand ; Kurnel, Moritz Doctoral Ph.D Ser Cymru 2024-07-11T15:13:45.0463953 2022-11-21T12:18:16.4341414 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Materials Science and Engineering Katie Davies 1 61971__25858__4efc5c6b5cbe4ab09b6d4dda8e42a8fc.pdf Davies_Katherine_Ph.D_Thesis_Final_Embargoed_Redacted_Signature.pdf 2022-11-21T13:24:43.3509933 Output 39961362 application/pdf E-Thesis – open access true 2023-11-08T00:00:00.0000000 Copyright: The author, Katherine Rebecca Davies, 2022. Released under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-Only (CC-BY) License. Third party content is excluded for use under the license terms. true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title A Heterostructure Metal Oxide Based Photoanode for Photoelectrocatalytic Degradation of Water Pollutants and Hydrogen Generation
spellingShingle A Heterostructure Metal Oxide Based Photoanode for Photoelectrocatalytic Degradation of Water Pollutants and Hydrogen Generation
Katie Davies
title_short A Heterostructure Metal Oxide Based Photoanode for Photoelectrocatalytic Degradation of Water Pollutants and Hydrogen Generation
title_full A Heterostructure Metal Oxide Based Photoanode for Photoelectrocatalytic Degradation of Water Pollutants and Hydrogen Generation
title_fullStr A Heterostructure Metal Oxide Based Photoanode for Photoelectrocatalytic Degradation of Water Pollutants and Hydrogen Generation
title_full_unstemmed A Heterostructure Metal Oxide Based Photoanode for Photoelectrocatalytic Degradation of Water Pollutants and Hydrogen Generation
title_sort A Heterostructure Metal Oxide Based Photoanode for Photoelectrocatalytic Degradation of Water Pollutants and Hydrogen Generation
author_id_str_mv e68a8bf6a33dcff11558400a27fdcc33
author_id_fullname_str_mv e68a8bf6a33dcff11558400a27fdcc33_***_Katie Davies
author Katie Davies
author2 Katie Davies
format E-Thesis
publishDate 2022
institution Swansea University
doi_str_mv 10.23889/SUthesis.61971
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Materials Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Materials Science and Engineering
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description With a growing population the production of medication and cleaning products has increased significantly. This has resulted in these compounds entering freshwater sources as current wastewater treatment technologies are unable to completely remove them. This can cause harm to aquatic and human life while increasing bacteria’s resistance to disinfectants. Therefore, this study focused on utilising photoelectrocatalysis (PEC) to determine its feasibility as an alternative process for removing pollutants from water. In this study a WO3/BiVO4 photoanode was successfully synthesised which could produce a high photocurrent of 2.75 mA/cm2. Utilising this photoanode with the optimised PEC operating parameters determined in this study a high degradation of ibuprofen (96%), benzyldimethyldodecylammonium chloride (100%) and sodium 2-naphthalenesulfonate (100%) was achieved. This demonstrated how successful the PEC system developed in this study was in degrading pollutants that current water treatment technologies struggle to remove. However, there were some drawbacks identified with utilising PEC. In relation solely to the ibuprofen degradation process, 4-isobutylacetophenone was identified by the mass spectrometer as one of the main by-products. This is an environmental concern as this compound is more hazardous than ibuprofen. Significantly, however it highlighted the importance of utilising a mass spectrometer to identify by-products produced during pollutant degradation and determine the toxicity of the resulting solution. A further drawback identified was that during the degradation of all the pollutants the pH of the treated solution was very acidic (2.59-2.75) which means a post-treatment step is required to help neutralise the solution. However, this study did evidence a significant benefit of utilising PEC in that it can produce considerable amounts of hydrogen with or without pollutant degradation. PEC can be utilised to produce hydrogen in a sustainable way.
published_date 2022-11-08T20:17:39Z
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score 11.04748

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