The use of plastic optical fibers in photocatalysis of trichloroethylene

In this study, plastic optical fibers (POFs) were considered as light-transmitting media and substrates for the potential use in photocatalytic environmental purification system and the performance of POFs was also compared with that of quartz optical fibers (QOFs). After the characteristic of POFs in terms of light transmittance was determined in the beginning, detailed investigation was further conducted through the photocatalytic degradation of trichloroethylene. It is concluded that the use of POFs is preferred to QOFs since the advantages such as ease of handling, lower cost, relatively reasonable light attenuation at the wavelength of near 400 nm can be obtained. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.