Objective
This proposal is for an IIF award to enable a researcher from India to visit a laboratory in the UK and develop:
- new scientific skills;
- a lasting collaboration within the UK; and
- potential to increase the research capacity of his home research environment.
The science of the proposal aims at understanding chemical mechanisms and catalyst design factors that influence degradation of selected pesticides by particle photocatalysts in aqueous solution.
This understanding will be used to design & synthesise more efficient TiO2 photocatalysts for the destruction of priority organic pollutants. The latter will be achieved using nanoparticle production technologies to synthesize surface & composition modified catalysts. For modification of composition, we propose to produce innovative P25 analogues - in particular, to control the rutile crystallite size, anatase porocity and anatase/rutile ratio and to optimize the reactivity of the catalyst with respect to those parameters.
For modification of the surface, we propose to conduct a novel study of the efficiencies of photodegradation of hydro-phobic/philic pesticides on samples of TiO2 that have been pretreated to render their surfaces highly hydrophilic & highly hydrophobic, so allowing assessment of the respective efficiencies of dynamic & static photodegradation mechanisms for each class of pollutant. We also propose to use the Quartz Crystal Microbalance to measure substrate adsorption at the catalyst surface in real time and most especially during a photodegradation experiment.
The intermediates & mechanism through which the pesticides of interests are destroyed by these modified photocatalysts will also be investigated. Experiments will be conducted to map the A->B->C etc degradation route of each pollutant and to study how competition effects influence this process. To prevent adverse environmental impact, toxicity of photodegradation intermediates will be assessed and compared with the parent molecule.
Fields of science
- natural scienceschemical sciencescatalysisphotocatalysis
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistryinorganic compounds
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistrytransition metals
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesenvironmental sciencespollution
- natural sciencesphysical scienceselectromagnetism and electronicssemiconductivity
Call for proposal
FP6-2002-MOBILITY-7
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
IIF - Marie Curie actions-Incoming International FellowshipsCoordinator
PRESTON
United Kingdom