Visible light induced photodegradation of organic pollutants on dye adsorbed TiO2 surface

Abstract

Visible light assisted degradation of a organics in air-equilibrated aqueous mixtures has been achieved using Safranine-O adsorbed TiO2 semiconductor particulate system. At ambient conditions over 50-75% degradation of organics has been observed on illuminating the reacting system with a 150W xenon lamp. A mechanism involving excitation of surface adsorbed dye, followed by charge injection into the TiO2 conduction band and formation of reactive •O2 -/ •HO2 radicals is proposed for the degradation of organics to carbon dioxide.