Adsorptive and photocatalytic performance of TiO2 pillared montmorillonite in degradation of endocrine disruptors having different hydrophobicity

TiO2 pillared clay was applied for the adsorption-photocatalytic degradation of the endocrine disruptors with various hydrophobicities (di-n-butyl phthalate, diethyl phthalate, dimethyl phthalate and bisphenol-A). The hydrothermal treatment developed the crystallinity of the TiO2 pillar and the size of the TiO2 crystallites, and enhanced the photocatalytic degradation rate. However, the hydrothermal treatment in hard condition made the specific photocatalytic activity decrease since the size of crystallites increased. The surface hydrophobicity of the pillared clay was not affected so much, but reduced slightly, by the hydrothermal treatment. Higher hydrophobic endocrine disruptor was more adsorbed and enriched on the TiO2 pillared clay. Enrichment of the reactant enhanced the rate of photocatalytic degradation on the pillared clay.