Nanophotocatalyst-Infused Textile Composites for Environmental Remediation

Background

The fact that wastewater contains both organic and inorganic contaminants highlights the need for innovative and useful solutions to be developed globally to address water quality issues in a way that is beneficial to both society and the environment. Therefore, it is essential to develop strong photocatalysts and degradation techniques that can effectively remove pollutants from wastewater. Although several mechanisms have been found for the degradation of environmental pollutants, one that stands out as being very effective is photocatalysis (Tahir et al., 2022). Catalysis is a technique for accelerating a process by including an additional component, which is frequently referred to as a catalyst, which decomposes but then regenerates after the catalytic cycle (Herrmann, 2017). Photocatalysts are agents that absorb light and cause a system to undergo a photochemical change, as opposed to chemicals, materials, or processes that are produced or enabled by light. When we talk about photocatalysis it is the catalysis that occurs in the presence of light energy. The name “photocatalysis” is the result of combining the words “photo” and “catalysis,” and it generally refers to the process where a substance changes the rate of a reaction when exposed to light. Photocatalysis is a specialized field within chemistry that revolves around chemical reactions occurring in the presence of both light and a key catalyst known as a photocatalyst. A photocatalyst essentially performs the role of a semiconductor material, greatly accelerating the reaction rate when exposed to light. When a substance comes into contact with photons with a high enough energy level, free radical processes begin to operate, activating the chemical reaction known as photocatalysis (Ameta et al., 2018). In recent years, photocatalysis has become one of the most efficient processes for dissolving extremely complicated chemical compounds. Photocatalytic procedures offer a possible substitute for conventional water filtration techniques by efficiently eliminating bacterial pollutants and dissolved organic compounds from wastewater. Photocatalysis is considered an environmentally friendly and green way of dealing with challenges and problems such as environmental pollution and reducing energy consumption (Kumar et al., 2023; Kumar, Sharma, & Vaish, 2022a, 2022b; Liu et al., 2017).