Preparation and Characterization of the TiO2 Immobilized Polymeric Photocatalyst for Degradation of Aspirin under UV and Solar Light

The traditional use of TiO2 powder as a photocatalyst for degradation of organic compounds has several post-degradation treatment problems, such as filtration, precipitation, etc. A novel method was developed to immobilize TiO2 to minimize/eliminate such problems. Polymeric membrane was used as a base material, over which the TiO2 photocatalyst was immobilized as a thin layer. Preparation and characterization of five different types of polymeric/TiO2 film photocatalysts were elucidated. The catalysts’ films were cross-linked by physical, chemical, and combination of these two processes. The polymers used in the formulation of the catalysts membranes are nontoxic in nature (approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The morphology of the films were studied by SEM. Photocatalytic degradation of acetylsalicylic acid was carried out to study the efficacy and efficiency of the polymeric membrane based TiO2 as photocatalysts under both UV and solar light irradiation. The degradation was observed to be dependent on the catalyst loading as well as the film thickness. The effects of the types of cross-link bonds on the photocatalytic degradation were also investigated.