Critical review on modified floating photocatalysts for emerging contaminants removal from landscape water: problems, methods and mechanism

• Published in: Chemosphere (Oxford) 2023-11, Vol.341, p.140043-140043, Article 140043
• Main Authors: Fu, Xiaoning, Zhou, Guangzhu, Li, Jianping, Yao, Qiuhui, Han, Zuozhen, Yang, Rongchao, Chen, Xi, Wang, Yuanhao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Defect; Doping; Emerging contaminants; Floating photocatalysts; Heterojunction; Landscape water
• ISSN: 0045-6535; 1879-1298
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.140043

Due to the disorderly discharge in modern production and daily life of people, emerging contaminants(ECs) began to appear in landscape water, and have become a key public concern. Because of the unique characteristics of landscape water, it is difficult to efficiently remove ECs either by natural purification or by traditional large-scale sewage treatment facilities. The ideal purification method is to remove them while maintaining a beautiful environment. Possessing the feature of low-density, floating photocatalysts could harvest sufficient light on the surface of the water for photocatalytic degradation, which may be an important supplement for ECs treatment in landscape water. This paper gave a review related to floating photocatalysts and proposed an idea of combining floating photocatalysts to construct bionic photocatalytic materials for contaminative landscape water treatment. Six types of common floating substrates and corresponding applications for floating photocatalysts were concluded in this paper, and the main problem leading to the low efficiency of photocatalysts and three corresponding three improvement strategies were discussed. Besides, the modification mechanisms of photocatalysts were discussed thoroughly. On this basis, the engineering application prospects of bionic photocatalytic materials were proposed to remove ECs in landscape water. [Display omitted] •New design of environmental-friendly landscape water emerging contaminants treatment.•Floating substrates needed for floating photocatalysts are systematically reviewed.•Problems and solutions that restrict the efficiency of photocatalysts are discussed.