Photocatalytic Degradation of 4-Bromodiphenyl Ether Using TiO2/MWCNTs Composites

Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs) are widely spread in the environment which posing elevated potential risks to the whole ecosystem, and has drawn increasing world´s attention. In the present study, well dispersed TiO₂/MWCNTs composites were synthesized by electron-beam irradiation method, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) techniques were used to characterize the composites. The degradation of persistent organic pollutants was demonstrated via UV illumination using 4-bromodiphenyl ether (BDE-3) as a target compound, which exhibited ~90% photo catalytic degradation efficiency after the duration of 60 min. We also studied the effects of precursor titanium fluoride (TiF₄) concentration and electron-beam irradiation dose on photo catalytic degradation efficiency of BDE-3, which were important factors in synthesis of the composites. The photo catalytic degradation of BDE-3 in acetone/water (1:1, v/v) solution followed the first-order reaction kinetics model.