Visible-Light-Responsive Nanostructured Materials for Photocatalytic Degradation of Persistent Organic Pollutants in Water

Abstract

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as polychlorinated biphenyls and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons consist of a group of synthetic compounds that are characterized by their resistance to degradation, important long-range transportation, and harmful effects to the ecosystems and human well-being. Certainly, we cannot think about progress in human civilization without industrialization. However, the rapid evolution in chemical, agrochemical, and petrochemical industries and the population exponential growth in the last century have given rise to an important number of toxic, bioaccumulative, and persistent organic chemicals in the environment. Effective removal of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) from wastewater represents one key approach that could limit their potential environmental impacts. Among a variety of techniques reported for the treatment of organic compound-contaminated wastewater, heterogeneous photocatalytic method using visible-light-responsive semiconductors has been articulated as an efficient technology that holds good potential for the removal of POPs. This chapter gives an overview of the latest development in the design and synthesis of unique semiconductors with visible-light-driven catalytic degradation of POPs. Contextual information on the basic principles of heterogeneous photocatalysis, paths of visible-light response, and photocatalytic performance of innovative semiconductor materials are presented.