Discipline: Chemistry and Chemical Sciences
Subcategory: Environmental Engineering
Emmanuel Ike - Howard University
Co-Author(s): Aaron Brown, Howard University, Washington, DC
Titanium is a semiconductor, which is commonly used to detoxify the environment with its photocatalytic effect. This makes it a viable and valuable material for water treatment. We hypothesized that titanium nanoparticles can be used to break down organic material that can be found in drinking water. In this experiment Fe3O4/SiO2/TiO2 magnetic nanoparticles were synthesized and used against methylene blue dye under ultraviolet light in order to test the photodegradation of this organic dye. During the test, vials of methylene blue solution were drawn in order to analyze how much of it was broken down by the nanoparticles. After a four-hour period, the amount of methylene blue absorbed in a beaker greatly decreased. From our results, it has demonstrated that the synthesized material breaks down the methylene blue over the increment of time. In the future, we would like to test for ways to retrieve the titanium nanoparticles once placed in water to increase the purity of drinking water.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HRD-1238466. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Faculty Advisor: Salem Titinchi, University of Western Cape,