Abstract
TiO2 nanoparticles have been extensively investigated for environmental applications, particularly in the photocatalytic decomposition of organic pollutants using solar energy. The TiO2-derived photocatalysts attract attention because of their photocatalytic efficiency and activity under a wide range of environmental conditions in response to superior structural and electronic properties. Consequently, TiO2 compares with other common semiconductors used for environmental photocatalytic applications, TiO2 is widely being considered close to an ideal semiconductor for photocatalysis. However, despite the impressive photocatalytic and material properties of titanium dioxide, TiO2 has not to this point been incorporated within commercial hub of oil spill remediation products. Therefore, this chapter covers the description of inevitable technical details required for unveiling the full potential of solar-driven photooxidation potency of TiO2, which have been the major challenges that halt its translation to commercial use in oil spill remediation. This at the end would underpin and make TiO2-derived materials a substitute ready to be commercially accepted as a promising method for remediation of oil-polluted aquatic and soil environments.
Highlights
The aquatic and terrestrial environments are undergoing constant compositional change due to the continuous introduction of chemicals initiating pollution problems, which considered as part of the dominant threats to living systems surviving on the earth
The problem of oil spill accidents unto aquatic and terrestrial environments remains one of the series of severe environmental and ecological damages on mother Earth planet, which when not properly managed causes long-term great distortion of ecological equilibrium that consumes lots of financial and biodiversified resources. To address this kind of environmental issue with vigour considering the problem of complexity of oil spill strongly interested to be managed within the shortest possible treatment time through use of renewable and cost-free energy source for just to maintain ecological equilibrium, development of solardriven oil spill remediating material with highly desired self-multifaceted features and functions is unwaveringly needed
Despite the substantial progress made in TiO2 photocatalysis, considerable opportunities and commercialisation-related challenges still remain in oil spill remediation using TiO2
Summary
The aquatic and terrestrial environments are undergoing constant compositional change due to the continuous introduction of chemicals initiating pollution problems, which considered as part of the dominant threats to living systems surviving on the earth. Oil spill is a serious environmental problem because of its ability to pollute large areas with associated consequences, and the longest period of management that usually leads to a heavy financial burden to industries and socio-economic afflictions to society in the immediate vicinity of the affected areas [12] This is quite challenging because the consequences are not conditional upon the particular geographic, ecological and societal settings in which the disaster occurs, rather viewed as a global problem since crude oil is obviously traded inter-regionally and continently [3, 11]. The application of TiO2 in the clean-up of oil spills is a chemical method of environmental pollution remediation, in recent years, TiO2 amongst the metal oxide semiconductors, has been considered as the most widely and well-studied material for the degradation of recalcitrant organic pollutants including spilled oil [22–24] This is directly connected to its high photocatalytic efficiency, physicochemical stability, high photonic efficiency, and an absence of biological toxicity in bulk form. This is aimed at providing research directions that can be skewed to work on facts rather than an impression in the design and development of TiO2-containing materials primarily for the solar-driven photocatalytic remediation of oil spills for environmental sustainability
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