Photocatalytic Activity of P-doped TiO2 Coatings Obtained at Room Temperature on Pre-treated Corona Polypropylene Films

Abstract

In this work, P-doped TiO2 (P-TiO2) photocatalyst was prepared by a modified sol-gel method at room temperature and then coated on corona discharge pre-treated polypropylene films (P-TiO2/PP). The obtained photoactive P-TiO2/PP was characterized with different techniques (XRD, SEM and SSA) and the photocatalytic effect under UV and visible light was analyzed in the degradation of methylene blue (MB), used as model organic pollutant. The photocatalytic tests were carried out in a batch photoreactor irradiated by a visible lamp (nominal power of 32 W and wavelength emission > 400 nm). The experimental results showed that the coating of P-TiO2 onto PP films allowed to achieve a MB discoloration of 63% after about 240 min of visible light irradiation.