Photocatalytic degradation of different types of microplastics by TiOx/ZnO tetrapod photocatalysts
Yanling He,
Atta Ur Rehman,
Muxian Xu,
Christelle A. Not,
Alan M.C. Ng,
Aleksandra B. Djurišić
Affiliations
Yanling He
Department of Physics, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China
Atta Ur Rehman
Department of Physics, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China
Muxian Xu
Department of Physics & Core Research Facilities, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China; Department of Physics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA
Christelle A. Not
Dept. of Earth Science, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China
Alan M.C. Ng
Department of Physics & Core Research Facilities, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China; Corresponding author.
Aleksandra B. Djurišić
Department of Physics, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China; Corresponding author.
We investigated the use of titania coated ZnO tetrapods for photocatalytic degradation of two common types of microplastics, namely polyethylene (PE) microparticles and polyester (PES) microfibers. We found that the plastics morphology affects the rate of degradation, and that the use of electron scavengers is needed to maintain the reactivity of the photocatalysts over a prolonged period of time. Complete mass loss of PE and PES is achieved under UV illumination for 480 h and 624 h, respectively. In addition to pristine microplastics, the degradation of environmental microplastics sample (consisting primarily of polypropylene) was also demonstrated, though in this case longer degradation time (∼816 h) was needed to achieve complete mass loss of the samples.
