Photocatalytic degradation of paraquat herbicide in the presence TiO2 nano structure thin films under visible and sun light irradiation using continuous flow photoreactor

Degradation of paraquat herbicide as a real sample was studied by photocatalytic process using N, S codoped TiO2 thin films. N, S/TiO2 thin films were successfully prepared via sol gel dip coating method. UV-Vis spectroscopy and chemical oxygen demand (COD) have used for process performance. UV-Vis results indicated that at optimum pH 5.8, maximum decomposition of 84.39% in 5 h has occurred under visible irradiation with initial concentration of 10 ppm. Based on the COD results, after 8 h, a reduction of the COD values from the paraquat of solution was evidently obtained in same condition. Moreover, our results indicated, which nanostructure of N, S/TiO2 thin films are recycled and stable, displaying a good potential of this technique in practical application. The immobilized TiO2 on the glass beads were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and fourier transform infrared (FT-IR). (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.