Heterojunctions were generated between tungsten trioxide and tetraphenyl porphyrin with
reduced graphene oxide or exfoliated graphite support for mineralisation of acid blue 25
dye under visible light radiation. Moreover, degradation of pharmaceuticals was
conducted using p-n heterojunctions between WO3 and Co3O4 and a direct Z-scheme
heterojunction between BiOI and Co3O4 prepared using in-situ method and solvothermal
self-assembly method respectively. The synthesized materials were characterised using
Raman, FTIR, SEM/EDS, TEM, XRD, TGA, BET, UV-Vis and PL techniques. UV-Vis,
TOC and HPLC-QTOF-MS were used to study the degradation efficiency and pathway.
Scavenger trapping experiments were conducted to propose the charge transfer
mechanisms. The highest degradation efficiency (99 %) was achieved for the dye and the
pharmaceuticals using visible light. The mineralisation ability of the fabricated
nanomaterials was pH dependent with acidic conditions favouring the removal of the dye
(pH 5) while alkaline conditions favoured the mineralisation of pharmaceuticals (pH 10 –
11). / Civil and Chemical Engineering
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/26888 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Malefane, Mope Edwin |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
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