Selective photoelectrocatalytic removal of dimethyl phthalate on high-quality expressed molecular imprints decorated specific facet of single crystalline TiO2 photoanode

Abstract

Elimination of toxic phthalic acid esters from coexisting systems is of great environmental significance. A molecular imprinted highly exposed (111) facet TiO2 surface was constructed for the preferential photoelectrocatalytic oxidation removal of dimethyl phthalate (DMP). The construction of highly exposed (111) facet not only improved photoelectrochemical activity of catalyst, but also provided a uniform and smooth surface that benefits the growth of imprinted sites. During coexisting system with10-fold concentration of natural organic matters, molecular imprinted (MI) TiO2, (111) NRs could specifically recognize the template and accelerate its oxidizing rate, while inhibit the oxidation of coexisted substances. Meanwhile, DMPcan only be 58.3% oxidized on no-molecular imprinted (NI) TiO2, (111) NRs in the same system. In situ ATR-FTIR adsorption experiments show that the construction of MI sites significantly improved the adsorption capacity and the selectiveas well as efficient photoelectrocatalytic oxidation performance towards target pollutant by MI TiO2, (111) NRs.