Facile photocatalytic reactor development using nano-TiO2 immobilized mosquito net and energy efficient UVLED for industrial dyes effluent treatment

The degradation of dyes present in water has been widely studied using well established photocatalytic process using various nanosized photocatalysts in the past. After the treatment of water the release of nanoparticles in the environment could cause adverse effects on the human health and ecosystem. The present study focuses on the facile development of highly adhered, TiO2 immobilized photocatalytic surface using low cost support materials such as mosquito net to avoid adverse effect of nanosize photocatalyst released after water treatment. A simple photocatalytic reactor using TiO2 coated mosquito net and ultraviolet light emitting diodes (UVLEDs) was fabricated and used to study photocatalytic degradation of dyes (methylene blue (MB), malachite green (MG), direct blue-15 (DB), and amaranth (AM)). The photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue, malachite green, direct blue-15 and amaranth dye was obtained 93%, 88%, 94% and 85% respectively using the TiO2 coated mosquito net under irradiation of ultraviolet light for 4 h. Furthermore, the effects of the initial concentration, number of UVLEDs used, and addition of H2O2 on the degradation of MB were also studied to optimize the experimental conditions. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.