Fabrication of a catalytic polymer composite sheet
enabling visible light-driven photocatalytic disinfection
of water
Amin Yoosefi Booshehri
1,2
•
Rong Wang
2,3
•
Rong Xu
1
Received: 3 August 2015 / Accepted: 13 October 2015 / Published online: 24 October 2015
Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015
Abstract Recently, photocatalytic water treatment has become an attractive
technology in water treatment due to its environmentally friendly nature. But sep-
aration of a photocatalyst from the produced water is the main obstacle in the
development of photocatalytic water treatment processes. Here, a photocatalytic
polymer composite was fabricated by dispersing Ag/BiVO
4
into polyethersulfone
matrix which resolves the latter issue. By a very simple procedure, photocatalyst
particles were concentrated on one side of the sheet, which is exposed to light. The
resultant composite was able to successfully disinfect water under visible light
(k [ 420 nm). The effect of photocatlyst on degradation of the polymer matrix
under visible light was also investigated. PES-Ag/BiVO
4
composite was charac-
terized using field emission scanning electron microscope/energy dispersive X-ray
analysis, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and UV–visible
spectroscopy. Antibacterial activity of the composite was tested against Escherichia
coli as model bacteria.
Keywords Catalyst immobilization Á Photocatalytic water treatment Á Water
disinfection
& Rong Xu
Amin Yoosefi Booshehri
amin2@e.ntu.edu.sg
1
School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 62
Nanyang Drive, Singapore 637459, Singapore
2
Singapore Membrane Technology Centre, Nanyang Environmental and Water Research
Institute, 1 Cleantech Loop, Singapore 617141, Singapore
3
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50
Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore
123
Res Chem Intermed (2016) 42:4827–4838
DOI 10.1007/s11164-015-2323-8
@Phil_Robichaud
@deepthiw
@JoseServera