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Phosphors-Based Photocatalysts for Wastewater Treatment

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Nanophotocatalysis and Environmental Applications

Part of the book series: Environmental Chemistry for a Sustainable World ((ECSW,volume 30))

Abstract

Every day a large amount of products has been released by chemical and pharmaceutical industries threatening the environment and human health. Moreover, their removal using conventional oxidation methods is difficult because a lot of pollutants are biorecalcitrant. Photocatalysis, an advanced oxidation technology, appears one of the most viable solutions due to its ability to oxidize a wide range of toxic organic compounds into harmless compounds such as CO2 and H2O by irradiation with UV light. Organic pollutants can be removed from water by a UV-driven photocatalytic process involving nanoparticles with semiconducting properties. However, their use in a photoreaction system suffers of the disadvantage due to the no-uniform photon distribution inside the reactor core.

The chapter describes a possible solution for enhancing the photon distribution inside the photoreactors, using inorganic and organic light-emitting particles (phosphors) coupled with photocatalysts to be applied in water and wastewater treatment. The chapter also underlines the difference between inorganic particles having down-conversion, up-conversion, and long-afterglow luminescence properties. Additionally, the use of up-conversion organic phosphors has been proposed. Finally, some examples concerning the use of semiconductors coupled with different photoluminescent materials in the removal of pollutants from water and wastewater are presented.

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Correspondence to Vincenzo Vaiano .

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Sacco, O., Vaiano, V., Sannino, D. (2020). Phosphors-Based Photocatalysts for Wastewater Treatment. In: Inamuddin, Asiri, A., Lichtfouse, E. (eds) Nanophotocatalysis and Environmental Applications . Environmental Chemistry for a Sustainable World, vol 30. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12619-3_5

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