Abstract
This article reviews the fundamental theories and reaction mechanisms of photocatalytic technologies with the assistance of electrical field for degrading multi-phase pollutants. Photo(electro)catalysis including photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) and photoelectrocatalytic oxidation (PECO) have been a potential technologies applied for the treatment of organic and inorganic compounds in the wastewaters and waste gases, which has been treated as a promising technique by using semiconductors as photo(electro)catalysts to convert light or electrical energy to chemical energy. Combining photocatalytic processes with electrical field is an option to effectively decompose organic and inorganic pollutants. Although photocatalytic oxidation techniques have been used to decompose multi-phase pollutants, developing efficient advanced oxidation technologies (AOTs) by combining photocatalysis with electrical potential is urgently demanded in the future. This article reviews the most recent progress and the advances in the field of photocatalytic technologies combined with external electrical field, including the characterization of nano-sized photo(electro)catalysts, the degradation of multi-phase pollutants, and the development of electrical assisted photocatalytic technologies for the potential application on the treatment of organic and inorganic compounds in the wastewaters and waste gases. Innovative oxidation techniques regarding photo(electro)catalytic reactions with and without oxidants are included in this review article.
Highlights
The application of innovative waste treatment technologies has received great attention in the past for solving the existing environmental pollution problems
The Ebg values of these doped photocatalysts gradually decrease with rising dopant proportion, from 3.1 eV for the bare TiO2 /fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) to 2.6 eV for the higher doped photo-composites, which allows the photocatalytic reaction system to effectively operate under the irradiation of visible light, improving the PEC treatment of organic contaminants [63]
Over the past two decades, electrical potential assisted advance oxidation technologies (E-advanced oxidation technologies (AOTs)) are thought as promising innovative techniques for generation, because the high treatability of complicated wastewaters and waste gases can be achieved with operative easiness and cost-effectiveness
Summary
The application of innovative waste treatment technologies has received great attention in the past for solving the existing environmental pollution problems. Photocatalytic technique (PCT) uses a semiconductor as photocatalyst (i.e., TiO2 ) under the light illumination (UV, near-UV, or visible lights) to induce electron and hole pairs (ecb − /hvb + ) to degrade organic and inorganic contaminants by producing strong oxidants (·OH and O2 − ) at its surface [10]. This technique has prominent advantages including non-toxicity, low cost, no secondary pollution, and high mineralization. Several semiconductors used as potential photocatalysts in the photoelectrocatalytic technique for the treatment of wastewaters and waste gases are introduced and described in detail shown below
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