Enhanced adsorption-photocatalytic reduction removal for Cr (VI) based on functionalized TiO2 with hydrophilic monomers by pre-radiation induced grafting-ring opening method

A novel and enhanced adsorption-photocatalytic reduction performances of Cr (VI) photocatalyst on TiO2-g-GMA/NMG (noted as: TGN) was prepared by pre-radiation grafting and ring-opening reaction with Glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) and N-methyl glucamine (NMG). The surface and microstructure properties of photocatalyst were manifested by FTIR, TG, XRD, DRS, XPS, BET and contact angle. Morphologies of TGN were characterized further by FE-SEM and HR-TEM. The highly activity of TGN was tested by the reduction of Cr (VI) into Cr (III) in aqueous medium under mixed light. The results showed that the TGN (NMG:18%, 60 kGy) also had a highest removal rate (81.8%) of Cr (VI) only for 1 h at [Cr(VI)] = 10 ppm, [TGN] = 10 mg/50 mL and pH = 3.0. In addition, the adsorption-photocatalytic reduction mechanism of Cr (VI) by TGN consisted of three processes was proposed. Generally, this TGN complex photocatalyst has good potential for application in the field of water pollution treatment containing high valence heavy metal ions.