| Autor: |
Fallas PZ; NSF ERC for Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT), Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States.; Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States., Kimzey JQ; Escuela de Química, Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Cartago 159-7050, Costa Rica., Hundi P; Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States., Islam MT; NSF ERC for Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT), Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States.; Dept. of Chemistry, University of Texas, El Paso, El Paso, Texas 79968, United States., Noveron JC; NSF ERC for Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT), Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States.; Dept. of Chemistry, University of Texas, El Paso, El Paso, Texas 79968, United States., Alvarez PJJ; NSF ERC for Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT), Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States.; Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States., Shahsavari R; C-Crete Technologies, 13000 Murphy Rd, Ste 102, Stafford, Texas 7477, United States. |
| Abstrakt: |
Blending TiO 2 and cement to create photocatalytic composites holds promise for low-cost, durable water treatment. However, the efficiency of such composites hinges on cross-effects of several parameters such as cement composition, type of photocatalyst, and microstructure, which are poorly understood and require extensive combinatorial tests to discern. Here, we report a new combinatorial data science approach to understand the influence of various photocatalytic cement composites based on limited datasets. Using P25 nanoparticles and submicron-sized anatase as representative TiO 2 photocatalysts and methyl orange and 1,4-dioxane as target organic pollutants, we demonstrate that the cement composition is a more influential factor on photocatalytic activity than the cement microstructure and TiO 2 type and particle size. Among the various cement constituents, belite and ferrite had strong inverse correlation with photocatalytic activity, while natural rutile had a positive correlation, which suggests optimization opportunities by manipulating the cement composition. These results were discerned by screening 7806 combinatorial functions that capture cross-effects of multiple compositional phases and obtaining correlation scores. We also report • OH radical generation, cement aging effects, TiO 2 leaching, and strategies to regenerate photocatalytic surfaces for reuse. This work provides several nonintuitive correlations and insights on the effect of cement composition and structure on performance, thus advancing our knowledge on development of scalable photocatalytic materials for drinking water treatment in rural and resource-limited areas. |
