Evaluating Photocatalysts Using Gamma Radiation

Abstract

A large amount of attention has been given to photocatalysts using UV radiation as the source of excitation; however, little work has been done to study photocatalysis using higher energy excitation sources, such as gamma or x-rays. During excitation, the photocatalyst absorbs light to produce electron-hole pairs (excitons). These excitons can react with absorbed species to yield reactive radical species that can degrade compounds or induce redox (oxidation-reduction) reactions. Common examples of semiconductor photocatalysts include: TiO{sub 2}, ZnO, Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3}, ZrO{sub 2}, and SnS. This project was conducted to investigate the photocatalytic oxidation of iron using gamma irradiation and several different semiconductor photocatalysts. Photometric Measurements: Photometric determination of Fe{sup II} and Fe{sup III} were made using a Cary 60 UV-Vis Spectrometer over a range of 800 - 200 nm at a scan rate of 60 nm/sec. Ferric (Fe{sup III}) ions have no detectable UV-vis spectrum, thus the absence of a peak in iron-based samples was taken as evidence of Fe{sup III} formation. Solution Preparation: Iron II (Fe{sup II}) standards were made by dissolving FeCl{sub 2}.6H{sub 2}O in deionized water using a sonicator. A solution of 1,10- phenanthroline was made by adding 40 mg of 1,10-phenanthroline to 20 mL of deionized water and sonicating for 60 minutes until a clear solution was obtained. Gamma Radiation Tests: Irradiated samples were exposed to Co-60 gamma radiation (1.17 MeV gamma) at a dose rate of ∼1 x 10{sup 5} Rad/hr Co-60. All samples were irradiated in glass scintillation vials. The presence of 30 mg of SnS reduces the amount of Fe{sup II} in solutions under gamma irradiation relative to samples with no SnS added. Fe{sup II} concentration decreases as irradiation time increases. This effect is enhanced when SnS is present. Fe{sup II} appears to decrease linearly with time. We found that the addition of SnS semiconductor, when combined with gamma radiation, oxidized more Fe{sup II} in the FeCl{sub 2} solution than gamma radiation alone. This suggests that SnS can be used as a photocatalyst using gamma radiation as the excitation source, although more detailed experiments are needed to confirm this belief. The next phase of this project would be to refine the preliminary results by determining exact quantities of SnS semiconductor and gamma radiation that induce sufficient redox. Repeated experiments with more samples could also give more data points for a chance at more representative and accurate data with error bars and standard deviations. Also, other semiconductors could possibly be tested to see how their effect on redox chemistry compares to that of SnS. The scope of this project could also be extended to include other metal or organic solutions to see if similar redox could be obtained.