A substance has been developed from titanium nanoparticles that can remove toxic phenol from water under natural conditions

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Titanium nanoparticles were used to make an effective substance capable of removing toxic phenol from water in natural conditions. The research results are reported in the Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics.

Environmental pollution is perhaps one of the biggest threats to humanity and to the entire planet Earth. Industry is to blame for many types of pollution, primarily the release of toxic organic substances into the water.

One such substance is phenol (and its derivatives), which is produced on a large scale (about 7 billion kilograms per year). Phenol derivatives are used in the creation of many materials and compounds, plastics, pharmaceuticals. This substance, however, can have harmful effects on the central nervous system, heart, liver and kidneys.

Chemists have developed quite a few methods for removing phenol from water. One of these methods relies on nanomaterials. Researchers from the RUDN University work with titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles. It is a semiconductor that, on contact with ultraviolet light, begins to react with water. This reaction leads to the formation of two radicals, OH and O2—, which, in turn, can react with phenol and reduce its concentration in water.

There is one problem: the energy gap of titanium dioxide is 3.25, so it can only absorb ultraviolet light and therefore only purify water under very specific and costly conditions. Chemists managed to modify titanium dioxide with transition metals. A substance called MTiO3 (“M” here stands for “metal”: cadmium, chromium, nickel, manganese, iron or cobalt) was obtained by heat treatment at 750 ° C for 210 minutes.

The addition of a transition metal to titanium dioxide made it possible to reduce the energy gap, as a result of which TiO3 was able to absorb not only ultraviolet light, but also visible light. As a result, it will be possible to remove phenol from water in non-specific conditions, that is, almost everywhere.

Researchers have already planned to expand the scope of their experiments, for example, using rare metals instead of transition ones. “We still have a long way to go before we can bring our new method to industry. Maybe six months or two years. In any case, this is a very promising substance that can be used against pollution, ”concluded the co-author of the article, Yahya Absalan

. Source: indicator.ru