Iron/Sulfur Co-Doped Titanium Dioxide Nanotubes: Optimization of the Photoelectrocatalytic Degradation of Phenol Red under Visible Light

• Published in: Key engineering materials 2020-06, Vol.847, p.95-101, Article 95
• Main Authors: Saputil, Nicole Elyse B., Perez, Jem Valerie D., Mopon Jr, Marlon L., Camiguing, Fiona Fritz G., Loza, Lance A., Lopez, Edgar Clyde R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Degradation; Design optimization; Holes (electron deficiencies); Iron; Mathematical models; Nanotubes; Organic compounds; Parameters; Phenols; Response surface methodology; Titanium dioxide; Wastewater
• ISSN: 1013-9826; 1662-9795; 1662-9795
• DOI: 10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.847.95

Photoelectrocatalysis is a rapidly developing technology for degrading recalcitrant organic compounds in wastewater due to its ability to overcome electron-hole recombination. Herein, we synthesized Fe/S co-doped TiO2 nanotubes through an in-situ anodization technique. We developed a simple reduced quadratic model based on response surface modeling which can be used to adequately correlate the operating parameters with the photoelectrocatalytic performance of Fe/S-TiNTs in degrading phenol red. Predicted maximum dye degradation of 54.78% was achieved by the generated model using the optimized parameters: initial phenol red concentration = 5.22 mg L-1, applied voltage = 27.4 V, and dopant loading = 2.97 wt.%. Upon validation, experimental maximum phenol degradation of 53.24% was obtained, which agrees well with the predicted value within statistical significance. Overall, our model can be potentially used for process optimization within the design space studied.