Degradation of Phenol in the Micro-Polluted Water Using SiO2-TiO2/PAN Photocatalytic Purifier

The organic micro-polluted water had seriously threatened the safety of human drinking water. Many purification methods were adopted to remove the trace organics, including the photocatalytic technique. In this study, the SiO₂-TiO₂ thin film coated polyacrylonitrile (PAN) yarn photocatalytic purifier developed by the sol-gel water vapor method was used for degradation of phenol in the micro-polluted water. The SiO₂-TiO₂-/PAN photocatalyst was characterized by SEM, XRD analysis. The effects of initial concentration of phenol on the degradation efficiency were investigated. The experimental results showed that the silicon doped could promote the anatase productivity on the PAN yarn surface under low temperature, and the photocatalytic purifier could efficiently mineralize phenol. The photocatalytic degradation followed the first-order reaction kinetics. After 24 hours irradiation, the degradation efficiency of phenol and TOC reached 95% and 52%, respectively. Therefore, the SiO₂-TiO₂-/PAN purifier had a broad application prospect on micro-polluted water purification.