Efficient iron-containing photocatalysts for oxidative destruction of organic and pharmaceutical pollutants

Principal investigator:

Konstantin Aleksandrovich Bolgaru, Senior Researcher, PhD, (kbolgaru2008@yandex.ru).

In recent years the contamination of water sources with different pharmaceuticals and their metabolites has become an urgent problem all over the world. The complete removal of pharmaceutical substance residues from water sources is associated with the use of Advanced Oxidative Processes (AOPs), the main principle of which is the generation of OH-radicals - particles with high reactivity.

Due to the urgency of the problem, efficient iron-containing photocatalysts were obtained by the SHS method for oxidative destruction of organic and pharmaceutical pollutants under UV radiation. Iron-containing metal-ceramic composites based on boron and silicon nitrides as well as on sialone exhibit high photocatalytic activity due to the presence of semiconductor phases (SiC, TiN, etc.) and metallic iron. The obtained materials can completely destruct such pollutants as formaldehyde, oxalic acid, a number of dyes, as well as pharmaceutical pollutants (diclofenac, analgin, levomycetine, etc.) to low-molecular-weight compounds (CO₂ and H₂O).

The high efficiency of oxidative destruction of soluble organic compounds in the presence of metal-ceramic composites is due to the combination of heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis. In particular, the most favorable for the degradation of diclofenac (98-99%) is the combination of heterogeneous catalysis with composites based on boron nitride, silicon nitride, sialone, which are characterized by high adsorption capacity.

Patentability:

An application for a patent of the Russian Federation for the invention "Method of obtaining a porous material based on silicon nitride", No. 2019140666 dated 09.12.2019, has been approved.