Abstract:
The study reported in this paper combines the electrocoagulation and photocatalysis for
the simultaneous degradation of methylene blue dyes (MB)-antibiotic ciprofloxacin (CP)
and production of hydrogen. The pollutant removal process was conducted by combining
adsorption by electrocoagulation and degradation by photocatalysis. Meanwhile, H2 was
produced by reducing the Hþ on the cathode and the photocatalyst surface in a reactor
made of acrylic equipped with aluminum as the anode, stainless steel 316 plates as a
cathode, Fe-doped titania nanotube arrays (TiNTAs) as a photocatalyst, and a 250-W
mercury lamp as the light source. TiNTAs were synthesized via anodization and followed by the successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method to incorporate
Fe as the dopant. In particular, the effects of Fe loading in the composite photocatalyst are
investigated. XRD results showed that TiO2 nanotubes arrays comprise a 100% anatase
phase. FESEM, EDX, TEM, and HRTEM analysis confirmed the formation of the nanotubular
structure of TiO2 and the presence of Fe deposited on the surface. The UVeVis DRS indicated that the bandgap of Fe-TiNTAs reduced with Fe introduction, as compared to that of
the undoped TiNTAs. The results showed that accumulation of the produced hydrogen
from the combination of electrocoagulation-photocatalytic system is greater than that
which is obtained using individual electrocoagulation or photocatalytic system. The
combined process exhibited an enhanced degradation ability of methylene blue and ciprofloxacin, as well as in the H2 production
