Solvothermally Grown Oriented WO3 Nanoflakes for the Photocatalytic Degradation of Pharmaceuticals in a Flow Reactor

• Published in: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 14; no. 10; p. 860
• Main Authors: Cescon, Mirco, Stevanin, Claudia, Ardit, Matteo, Orlandi, Michele, Martucci, Annalisa, Chenet, Tatiana, Pasti, Luisa, Caramori, Stefano, Cristino, Vito
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01-05-2024
• Subjects: Acids; Chemical contaminants; Contaminants; Contamination; Continuous flow; Drinking water; Estrogens; Ethinylestradiol; Flow system; Glass substrates; Metal oxides; Nanoparticles; Oxidation; Pharmaceuticals; Photocatalysis; Photocatalysts; photocatalytic prototype system; Photodegradation; Photoelectric effect; Psychotropic drugs; Semiconductors; solvothermally grown WO3; Water quality; water remediation; Water treatment; United States > US; Italy; Germany
• ISSN: 2079-4991; 2079-4991
• DOI: 10.3390/nano14100860

Contamination by pharmaceuticals adversely affects the quality of natural water, causing environmental and health concerns. In this study, target drugs (oxazepam, OZ, 17-α-ethinylestradiol, EE2, and drospirenone, DRO), which have been extensively detected in the effluents of WWTPs over the past decades, were selected. We report here a new photoactive system, operating under visible light, capable of degrading EE2, OZ and DRO in water. The photocatalytic system comprised glass spheres coated with nanostructured, solvothermally treated WO3 that improves the ease of handling of the photocatalyst and allows for the implementation of a continuous flow process. The photocatalytic system based on solvothermal WO3 shows much better results in terms of photocurrent generation and photocatalyst stability with respect to state-of-the-art WO3 nanoparticles. Results herein obtained demonstrate that the proposed flow system is a promising prototype for enhanced contaminant degradation exploiting advanced oxidation processes.