Immobilization of TiO2 nanoparticles in polymeric substrates by chemical bonding for multi-cycle photodegradation of organic pollutants

Nano titanium dioxide (TiO(2)) photocatalyst is generally immobilized onto the matrix through the physical absorption, hydrogen bonding or chemical bonding, which is utilized for the application of wastewater treatment. In this research, TiO(2) nanoparticles were immobilized in polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) matrix via solution-casting combined with heat-treatment method. Structure characterization indicated that Ti-O-C chemical bond formed via dehydration reaction between TiO(2) and PVA during the heat treatment process, and TiO(2) nanoparticles had been chemically immobilized in PVA matrix. Photodegradation results of methyl orange (MO) showed that the film with 10 wt% TiO(2) and treated at 140°C for 2h exhibited a remarkable ultraviolet (UV) photocatalytic activity, approximately close to the TiO(2) slurry system. This was mainly attributed to the fixation effect by Ti-O-C chemical bonds, which was indirectly confirmed by the slight loss of TiO(2) photocatalysts even after 25-cycle use. In addition, the good swelling ability of PVA matrix provided the MO molecules with more opportunities to fully contact with TiO(2), thus benefited the photocatalysis. This route to chemically immobilize TiO(2) nanoparticles is simple and cheap to prepare polymer/TiO(2) hybrid materials with high photocatalytic activity for multi-cycle use, which is of significance to the practical application of TiO(2) catalysts.