Novel bacterial cellulose-TiO2 stabilized Pickering emulsion for photocatalytic degradation

Photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants is an effective, energy-saving and renewable technique. In this study, functional oil/water (O/W) Pickering emulsions with excellent photocatalytic activity were prepared by the adsorption of nano-titanium oxide (TiO2) into bacterial cellulose (BC). The results indicate that the novel hybrid structure enhanced the interfacial diffusion rate of BC-TiO2 and further improved the mechanical strength of the obtained interfacial layer. Stable medium internal phase emulsions (MIPEs) and high internal phase emulsions (HIPEs) were also obtained by using low-loading hybrid particles. The investigation of morphology and rheological properties indicated that the shear-thinning and solid-like behaviors of the obtained emulsion systems. The photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B was much faster in the emulsion system than p-TiO2 suspension, which was stabilized by BC-TiO2 (45 min, 90%) with respect to the case of TiO2 (90 min, 90%) and an aqueous system containing TiO2 (120 min, 53%). Therefore, this paper gives new insights to the application of BC as an efficient scaffold for loading TiO2 coupling at the oil-water interface, thus paving the way for the development of sustainable catalyst.

Automated summary

In this study, functional oil/water Pickering emulsions with excellent photocatalytic activity were prepared by adsorbing nano-titanium oxide into bacterial cellulose. The hybrid structure enhanced the interfacial diffusion rate and mechanical strength of the emulsion system. The photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants was faster in the emulsion system compared to traditional suspension.