Abstract
The risks of selenium (Se) water contamination to human and aquatic life make it important to develop and apply efficient Se removal methods. Selenium photocatalytic reduction is an effective technique for this purpose, but it still suffers from limitations related to the photocatalyst recovery at the end of the process. In the present work, magnetic particles were coated with a titanium dioxide (TiO2) layer, using a sol–gel process, in order to obtain a magnetic recoverable Fe/TiO2 photocatalysts. The catalysts were prepared with different Fe concentrations and with or without thermal treatment, being then characterized by different techniques and applied in the Se photoreduction. Both calcined and non-calcined catalysts presented similar specific surface areas (19–29 m2 g− 1), but the latter showed better results in the photocatalytic tests (100% of Se removal in 15 min using the non-calcined 8% Fe photocatalyst). The photostability test performed using the best catalyst (non-calcined 8% Fe photocatalyst) indicated a decrease in the photoactivity from the second photocatalytic cycle onwards. Besides, the catalysts lost their magnetic properties after being calcined.
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