After each cycle of usage of a photocatalyst for exampe in dye degradation how to recover the photocatalyst and use it further in other cycle?
You have two options: separate the catalyst by vacuum filtration, or by centrifugation. When you separate the catalyst, you have to eliminate any rest of the reaction and, if necessary, reactivate it, for example by heat treatment (although it obviously depends on the catalyst).
Hi Ankush,
You can simply filter or centrifuse the solution. Then the solid need to be washed with organic solvent to remove remained dye on the surface. Subsiquently you need to make the catalyst active in your desired temperature which is depend on structure of your catalyst.
Recover a photo-catalyst , clean perfectly by washing with aq. solvent then activate by heating and reuse.
It should be based on the type of photocatalyst you are working with.
For example, a photocatalyst with magnetic properties can be separated by using the technique of magnetic separation which is one of the most effective and simple methods. Usually, for any type of catalyst, Centrifugation is the best method to recover the photocatalyst more effectively without any loss. After separation, it should be washed thoroughly with distilled water to remove any adsorbed dye pollutant molecules. I suggest to test the recovered catalyst with FT-IR, EDX, etc. to check their purity before the next cycle. If it is a polymer/semiconductor-based nanocomposite/nanohybrid catalyst, the Photostability of the polymer content should be checked after each cycle with FT-IR analysis.
Hope it will help you,
Thanks for the opportunity...
Ankush Sharma
You can separate the photocatalyst using vacuum filtration or centrifugation. I hope this answer is suitable for your query. Best luck with your research !!
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