Simultaneous removal of bacteria and volatile organic compounds on Cu2O-NPs decorated TiO2 nanotubes: competition effect and kinetic studies

Abstract In this work, we study the effect of decorating TiO2 nanotubes (TiO2-NTs) with Cu2O nanoparticles (Cu2O-NPs) on photocatalytic degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and on bacterial disinfection. The Cu2O-NPs were loaded on the TiO2-NTs by the electrodeposition method. The butane-2, 3-dione (BUT) was used as a target VOC-pollutant of food industry due its adverse environmental impact (high toxicity and confirmed carcinogenicity). The achieved Cu2O-NPs/TiO2-NTs nanocomposites were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV–vis) and scanning (SEM) and transmission (TEM) electron microscopy. In order to investigate the photocatalytic and antibacterial behavior of the Cu2O-NPs/TiO2-NTs, simultaneous removal of Escherichia coli (E. coli) and butane-2, 3-dione (BUT) were tested with the optimized catalyst. We observed a bacterial inactivation rate of 98 % and a concomitant 99.7 % VOC removal within 60 min and 25 min of visible light irradiation, respectively.