A multifunctional compound catalyst for sustainable wastewater remediation

In a recent study, a research team developed a novel method to synthesize multifunctional compound particles. These particles can achieve many essential functions for water remediation. The study was published in ACS materials and interfaces applied.

Reliable access to clean water is a basic human right and a central objective of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Therefore, ensuring technologies that can eliminate pollutants from water bodies is an essential step towards sustainability. Among several existing methods, the use of solar energy represents an attractive option for water remediation without increasing carbon emissions.

Many photocatizers are currently being explored to degrade water pollutants through solar reactions. Photothermic evaporation, on the other hand, uses solar energy to quickly evaporate contaminated water and condense it in fresh water. Unfortunately, photocatalytic and photothermal water remediation technologies tend to depend on expensive materials that are difficult to synthesize and implement at large scales, which requires the development of a unique and economical composite material.

For his new study, the research team, which includes Dr. Kunihiko Kato, Dr. Yunzi Xin and Yuping Xu, all from the Nagoya Institute of Technology (Nitech), Japan, led by the associated professor Takashi Shirai also from Nitech, used a booty mill and optimized the grinding parameters to the transformation of a molybenume Molybenum Molybenum (Molybenume de Molybenume (Molybenume de Molybenume (Molyben de Molybden.₃) and polypropylene in composite particles of hydrogen molybdenum (H_unknownMoo_{3 – and}), Molybdenum dioxide (Moo₂), and activated carbon.

“The proposed mechanochemical process exceeds other current approaches in terms of energy efficiency and profitability,” says Dr. Shirai.

Through broad experimentation, the research team demonstrated the many notable capabilities of its compounds. First, these particles exhibited a wide absorption of light throughout the near infrared ultraviolet range, allowing photocatalytic degradation of an organic contaminant model. Interestingly, the compounds also functioned as Brønsted acid catalysts and eliminated water pollutants even in the absence of light.

In addition, the proposed catalyst exhibited plasmanic properties, which led to a marked photothermal effect that allowed rapid warming with sunlight. This could be used to boost the rapid evaporation of water with an exceptional photothermal conversion efficiency. Finally, carbons that contain oxygen that remained as grinding by -products could adsorb and eliminate heavy metal ions from wastewater.

The research equipment plans to refine its grinding process to produce all similar catalysts for water remediation and other applications.

“Our developed technology has the potential to apply to a wide range of oxides and plastics, and we anticipate that it will have varied applications, including the improvement of the functionality of existing materials and recycling waste plastics, to ensure the availability of drinking water,” concludes Dr. Shirai.