Modification of Titanium Dioxide Embedded in the Bio-Composite Film for Photocatalytic Oxidation of Chlorinated Volatile Organic Compound

This research aimed to apply the Blown Film Extrusion technique to synthesize the titanium dioxide (TiO2) bio-composite films incorporated on a thin film as a photocatalyst. The biopolymer materials have great recognition via their renewable and biodegradable characteristic and the green composite has been a new challenge path to replace traditional polymer composite. In this work, TiO2/Polybutylene succinate (PBS) bio-composite film was developed to be used as a supporter for determining the photocatalytic oxidation activity of the TiO2 on the chlorinated volatile organic compounds degradation. PBS is a synthetic biopolymer which has a reasonable mechanical strength. The modified-TiO2/PBS bio-composite films were studied to evaluate the degradation of dichloromethane. In order to improve the distribution of the developed photocatalyst, the TiO2 powders were modified by 0.05% mole of ethyl triethoxysilane (ETES) and stearic acid (SA), respectively. The 10% wt. TiO2/PBS bio-composite films with thickness of 30 μm were prepared by blown film technique. To evaluate the dispersion efficacy, the modified-TiO2/PBS bio-composite films were characterized by Scanning Electron microscopy (SEM). Photocatalytic degradation of dichloromethane in gas phase was determined using an annular closed system photoreactor. The obtained result which was corresponding to the absorption of TiO2/PBS bio composites film was investigated in a range of 300-400 nm via UV/VIS spectrophotometry. The energy band gap of TiO2, ethyl triethoxysilane-TiO2 and stearic acid-TiO2 bio-composite film was found to be 3.18, 3.21, and 3.26 eV, respectively. The SEM shows that the modified-TiO2 with both ETES and SA exhibit uniform dispersion, while the only TiO2 shows an evidence of agglomeration in the PBS matrix. For photocatalyst efficiency, the photocatalytic activity of modified-TiO2/PBS bio-composite film increased comparing to the TiO2/PBS bio-composite film. Moreover, the photocatalytic degradation of dichloromethane by ETES-TiO2/PBS bio-composite film yielded degradation efficiency of 47.0%, whereas SA-TiO2/PBS bio-composite film yielded the removal efficiency of 41.0% for detention time at 350 min.