Photocatalytic degradation of phenanthrene by graphite oxide-TiO2-Sr(OH)2/SrCO3 nanocomposite under solar irradiation: Effects of water quality parameters and predictive modeling

Abstract

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are persistent and harmful pollutants with high priority concern in the environment. To efficiently and energy-savingly remove PAHs from water, this work prepared a novel graphite oxide-TiO2-Sr(OH)2/SrCO3 nanocomposite and evaluated its photocatalytic activity for degradation of phenanthrene (a model PAH) under simulated solar irradiation. The presence of 50 mg/L of the photocatalyst enhanced the pseudo-first-order photodegradation rate constant of phenanthrene by 11.6 times from 0.0005 ± 0.0000 min−1 (control) to 0.0058 ± 0.0004 min−1. Superoxide radicals (O2−) and hydroxyl radicals (OH) were found to be the key reactive species in the photocatalytic process. Based on analysis of intermediates and established photocatalysis chemistry, the degradation pathway was elucidated. The effects of various water quality parameters were investigated, including temperature, pH, ionic strength, humic acid and two surfactants (Tween 80 and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)), and the underlying mechanisms were illustrated. Based on the effects of individual water quality parameters, two predictive models were established by addition or multiplication to predict the photocatalytic degradation rate under complex water matrices. Based on experimental results with seawater and in the presence of three model oil dispersants, the multiplicative model was shown to present a robust and accurate prediction of the phenanthrene photodegradation rate with a predicted correlation coefficient (r2pred.) of 0.9483. This study not only developed a new photocatalyst of high activity under solar light, but also provided useful information for its practical application under various water quality conditions.