Solar photocatalytic degradation of gaseous formaldehyde by sol–gel TiO2 thin film for enhancement of indoor air quality

Solar photocatalytic degradation of formaldehyde in the gaseous phase has been investigated. The tested photoreactor is made of a borosilicate glass tube with the inner surface coated with a sol–gel TiO2 thin film. In a pseudo-firstorder Langmuir–Hinshelwood (L–H) model, the maximum reaction rate constant obtained is 0.148 min 1 under an exposure to sunlight with solar UVA irradiance of 1.56 mW/cm2. The solar photolysis effect is found to be negligible. It is also found that the sol–gel TiO2 thin film has a lower apparent photonic efficiency of solar photocatalysis than a Degussa P25 TiO2 coating. However, for the photonic efficiency taking into account the absorbed and scattered photons only and, in other words, excluding the transmitted photons, the thin film has a higher value. Based on a total of 28 measured data, an empirical-correlation equation has been developed to express the reactant residue with respect to the solar UVA irradiance and exposure time. A reasonable agreement between the correlation and experimental data is obtained. The findings of this investigation can be applied to design optimization of a honeycomb photoreactor made up of TiO2-coated glass tubes or polygonal cells. 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved