Jang-Soon Bae

Characterization of Metal(Cu, Zn)-Carbon/TiO 2 Composites Derived from Phenol Resin and their Photocataytic Effects

Metal-carbon/TiO₂ composite photocatalysts were thermally synthesized through the mixing of anatase to metal (Cu, Zn) containing phenol resin in an ethanol solvent coagulation method. The BET surface area increases, with the increase depending on the amount of metal salt used. From SEM images, metal components and carbon derived from phenol resin that contains metal was homogeneously distributed to composite particles with porosity. XRD patterns revealed that metal and titanium dioxide phase can be identified for metal-carbon/TiO₂ composites, however, the diffraction peaks of carbon were not observed due to the low carbon content on the TiO₂ surfaces and due to the low crystallinity of the amorphous carbon. The results of a chemical elemental analysis of the metal-carbon/TiO₂ composites showed that most of the spectra for these samples gave stronger peaks for C, O, treated metal components and Ti metal compared to that of any other elements. According to photocatalytic results, the MB degradation can be attributed to the three types of synergetic effect: photocatalysis, adsorptivity and electron transfer, according to the light absorption between the supporter TiO₂, metal species, and carbon layers.

Preparation of Fe-ACF/TiO₂ Composites and their Photocatalytic Degradation of Waste Water

In this study, we prepared Fe-activated carbon fiber(ACF)/TiO₂ composites with titanium (VI) n-butoxide (TNB) as the titanium source for ACF pre-treated with iron compounds through the impregnation method. In terms of textural surface properties, the composites demonstrate a slight decrease in the BET surface area of the samples and an increase in the amount of iron compounds treated. The surface morphology of the Fe-ACF/TiO₂ composites was characterized by means of SEM. The composites have a porous texture with homogenous compositions of Fe and titanium dioxide distributed on the sample surfaces. The phase formation and structural transition of the iron compounds and titanium dioxide were observed in X-ray diffraction patterns of the Fe-ACF/TiO₂ composites. The chemical composition of the Fe-ACF/TiO₂ composites, which was investigated with EDX shows strong peaks for the C, O, Fe and Ti elements. The photo degradation results confirm that the Fe-ACF/TiO₂ composites show excellent removal activity for the COD in piggery waste due to photocatalysis of the supported TiO₂, radical reaction by Fe species, and the adsorptivity and absorptivity of ACF.