Synthesis of Metal Oxide/Sulfide Monoliths for Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Pollutants

Abstract

This thesis establishes the importance of monoliths with hierarchical porosity and unique channel structure and their superiority as photocatalysts. Of the numerous techniques to treat water pollution, photocatalysis has come across as the most promising route. However, the employment of powdered photocatalysts restrains the large-scale use of this method. Monolithic photocatalysts come as a savior in this situation which have better transport kinetics and easy recovery due to single rock like structure. Monolithic materials (metal oxide/sulfide) with high surface area through simple wet-impregnation technique using silica monolith as a support. The monoliths have been employed for photocatalytic degradation of diverse pollutants. Since, easy recovery is the most important attribute of the monolithic photocatalyst, the reusability studies and material-characterizations post the photocatalytic experiments have also been performed to evaluate the potential of monoliths from a real-world perspective.