Exploitation of Lignocellulose Fiber-Based Biotemplates to Improve the Performance of an Immobilized TiO₂ Photocatalyst

• Main Authors: Zoilo Gonzalez, Joaquin Yus, Yessica Bravo, A. Javier Sanchez-Herencia, Begoña Ferrari
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-01-01
• Series: Catalysts
• Subjects: photocatalytic activity; colloidal processing; TiO₂ coatings; lignocellulose nanofibers; biotemplates; films microstructure
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4344/11/2/156

The performance of an immobilized photocatalyst has been successfully improved by colloidal processing of a heterostructure composed by TiO₂ nanoparticles and lignocellulose nanofibers (LCNFs) obtained from biomass residues. The incorporation of 4 wt.% of biotemplate to the formulation increased the degradation rate and reduced the operating time to remove the 100% of methyl orange of a liquid solution. The reaction rate constant (<i>k</i> = 0.29–0.45 h⁻¹) of the prepared photocatalytic coatings (using commercial particles and templates obtained from natural-derived resources) are competitive with other pure TiO₂ materials (no composites), which were prepared through more complex methodologies. The optimization stages of deposition and sintering processes allowed us to obtain homogeneous and crack-free microstructures with controlled thickness and mass values ranging from 3 to 12 µm and 0.9 to 5.6 mg, respectively. The variation of the microstructures was achieved by varying the amount of LCNF in the formulated suspensions. The versatility of the proposed methodology would allow for implementation over the internal surface of photocatalytic reactors or as a photocatalytic layer of their membranes. In addition, the processing strategy could be applied to immobilize other synthetized semiconductors with higher intrinsic photocatalysis properties.