A new alkali-activated steel slag-based cementitious material for photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutant from waste water.

A new type of Ni,Ca-cementitious material was firstly synthesized via a two-step reaction of alkali-activated steel slag polymerization and ion exchange. The XRF results showed that almost all the Na(+) ions in the matrix of Na,Ca-cementitious material were replaced by Ni(2+) ions at room temperature. The new hydrated products of metahalloysite (Si(2)Al(2)O(5)(OH)(4)) and calcium silicate hydrate (CSH) were formed in the Na,Ca-cementitious material. The diffuse reflectance UV-vis near infrared ray spectrum was blue-shifted due to the strong interaction between Ni(2+) and negative charge of [AlO(4)](5-) tetrahedron in the framework of cementitious material. The Ni,Ca-cementitious material was used as a catalyst for the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye and showed a degradation rate of 94.39% under UV irradiation. The high photocatalytic degradation activity was suggested to be the synergistic effect of the cementitious matrix, Ni(2+) ions and the iron oxides of wustite (FeO) and calcium iron oxide (Ca(2)Fe(2)O(5)) from the steel slag. A probable mechanism of photocatalytic oxidative degradation was proposed. Copyright Â