Fabrication of immobilized powdered activated carbon as a sub-layer of TiO2 for the photocatalytic-adsorptive removal of phenol

Abstract

A highly effective and reusable immobilized powdered activated carbon (PAC) was fabricated on the glass plate via a dip-coating technique to remove aqueous phenol. This immobilized PAC layer would become a sub-layer of TiO2 in the TiO2/PAC layer by layer system. The immobilized PAC was characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Brunauer, Emmett and Teller surface area (S BET ). FTIR spectra showed that PAC did not form any crosslinking reaction with ENR–PVC blend when both materials were mixed while PAC particles were enwrapped with ENR–PVC, which reduced the S BET from 620.3 to 317.5 m2 g−1. It was found that the thickness of immobilized PAC increased proportionally with loadings with improved removal efficiency. Preliminary efficiency tests on immobilized TiO2/PAC layer by layer system under indoor lamp and solar irradiation for phenol removal proved that the immobilized PAC was a suitable sub-layer adsorbent for TiO2.