Photocatalytic degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenol wastewater using porphyrin/TiO2 complexes activated by visible light

The use of TiO2 as photocatalyst to degrade the organic compounds is an effective method of oxidation process and has been widely studied in environmental engineering. However, TiO2 absorbed the UV light which is only small part of sunlight reaching earth surface to activate photocatalytic procedure effectively is a major disadvantage. Therefore, studies on the development of new TiO2 wherein its photocatalytic activity can be activated by visible light which is the major part of sunlight will be valuable for field application. In this study, we evaluate the photocatalytic degrading efficiency of porphyrins/TiO2 complexes on the organic pollutants under irradiation with visible light (lambda = 419 nm). The results showed that the photodecomposition efficiency of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) wastewater by using porphyrin/TiO2 irradiated under visible light for 4 h was up to 42-81% at pH 10. These evidences reveal that the system of porphyrin/TiO2 complexes has also significantly efficiency of photocatalytic degradation for some hazardous or recalcitrant pollutants under visible light irradiation. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.