Insight into visible light-driven photocatalytic degradation of diesel oil by doped TiO2-PS floating composites.

TiO2-pearlstone (PS) floatable photocatalysts were synthesized using a facile sol-gel method and confirmed by XRD, N2 adsorption-desorption, SEM, EDX, TEM, FT-IR, XPS, and UV-vis DRS measurements. It has been found that the photocatalysts composed of anatase TiO2 deposited on the surface of PS and formed mesoporous structure. By N or B/N doping, the band gap of the photocatalyst has been narrowed. The obtained floatable photocatalysts can be applied to solar light-driven remediation of oil-contaminated water. Diesel oil was chosen as the model pollutant to evaluate the photocatalytic activity. The results showed B/N-TiO2-PS exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity for diesel oil under visible light irradiation, which is 48 % removal rate for 9 h. The reaction rate constant k of B/N-TiO2-PS is 0.08423 h(-1), which is four times larger than that of pure TiO2-PS. Moreover, the characteristic of floatable makes the photocatalysts easier to separate and reuse, which showed great potential for practical applications in the field of environmental cleanup and solar energy conversion.