| Autor: |
de Assis GC; Departamento de Química , Universidade Estadual da Paraíba , Campina Grande 58429-500 , Brazil., Skovroinski E; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência de Materiais , Universidade Federal de Pernambuco , Recife 50740-540 , Brazil., Leite VD; Departamento de Química , Universidade Estadual da Paraíba , Campina Grande 58429-500 , Brazil., Rodrigues MO; Instituto de Química , Universidade de Brasília , Brasília 70297-400 , Brazil., Galembeck A; Departamento de Química Fundamental , Universidade Federal de Pernambuco , Recife 50740-540 , Brazil.; Centro de Tecnologias Estratégicas do Nordeste , Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia, Inovações e Comunicações , Recife 50740-545 , Brazil., Alves MCF; Departamento de Química , Universidade Estadual da Paraíba , Campina Grande 58429-500 , Brazil., Eastoe J; School of Chemistry , University of Bristol , Bristol BS8 1TS , U.K., de Oliveira RJ; Departamento de Química , Universidade Estadual da Paraíba , Campina Grande 58429-500 , Brazil. |
| Abstrakt: |
Plastic debris is a major environmental concern, and to find effective ways to reuse polystyrene (PS) presents major challenges. Here, it is demonstrated that polystyrene foams impregnated with SnO 2 are easily generated from plastic debris and can be applied to photocatalytic degradation of dyes. SnO 2 nanoparticles were synthesized by a polymeric precursor method, yielding specific surface areas of 15 m 2 /g after heat treatment to 700 °C. Crystallinity, size, and shape of the SnO 2 particles were assessed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), demonstrating the preparation of crystalline spherical nanoparticles with sizes around 20 nm. When incorporated into PS foams, which were generated using a thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) process, the specific surface area increased to 48 m 2 /g. These PS/SnO 2 nanofoams showed very good efficiency for photodegradation of rhodamine B, under UV irradiation, achieving up to 98.2% removal. In addition the PS/SnO 2 nanofoams are shown to retain photocatalytic activity for up to five reuse cycles. |
