Factors Influencing the Photocatalytic Activity of Photocatalysts in Wastewater Treatment

Photocatalysis is considered as a promising, sustainable, economically feasible, environmentally friendly technique to improve the quality of the wastewater with zero secondary waste and help to fight the clean water scarcity. Advances in the development of semiconductor nanomaterials have attracted a considerable amount of interest in wastewater treatment. Several UV/visible light excitable nanomaterials such as TiO2, ZnO, MoS2, g-C3N4, CuO, Fe2O3, CdS, SnO2, ZnS, SrTiO3, etc., and their nanohybrids have been studied as photocatalysts to degrade organic/inorganic pollutants from wastewater. Their efficiency can be controlled by optimizing various parameters (e.g., pH, temperature, the dosage of catalyst, oxidants, light intensity, morphology, etc.) during the reaction. The experimental conditions significantly affect the performance of photocatalyst in the photodegradation of contaminants. Optimization of operating parameters and their effect on photocatalytic degradation of water pollutants will be the main focus of this chapter. It was noticed that photocatalytic property of materials can be improved by changing morphologies, doping of element, addition of oxidant, high surface area, and high light intensity. Also, the brief about designing strategies and general mechanism of photo catalysis and recent advances in nanomaterials and nanohybrid materials will be discussed here.