Water Decontamination With New Porous Oxide Photocatalysts

Water pollution is major environmental problem worldwide. Many common industrial organic compounds that make their way into water systems can be carcinogenic at trace levels and are difficult and costly to remove completely with conventional technologies. Heterogeneous photocatalysts like titanium dioxide have the potential to completely mineralize organic compounds in water under ultraviolet light. We are proposing to develop new porous oxide semiconductor materials made up of titanium and niobium mixed oxide nanocomposites. The porous catalysts retain high catalytic activity while being easy to handle and filter out of product streams. New synthetic methods are to be developed that optimize physical properties and the catalyst's ability to photo-degrade organic contaminants in water.