An Effective and Low-Cost TiO2/Polystyrene Floating Photocatalyst for EnvironmentalRemediation

A floating polymer-supported photocatalyst based on polystyrene impregnated with titanium
dioxide particles was developed using a facile solvent-cast method at ambient temperature. The prepared
photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and fourier transform
infrared spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity of the developed photocatalysts was investigated using
methylene blue dye. The prepared polystyrene-supported titanium dioxide photocatalysts successfully
removed color from the aqueous solution without any additional pH adjustment under ultraviolet (254 nm)
irradiation and non-stirred, non-anchored conditions. The maximum color removal achieved by the optimized
photocatalyst (10 weight percent loading of Degussa P25 with respect to amount of polystyrene) was around
93% after 7.5 h of ultraviolet light exposure. Further, the photocatalyst sheets were also tested for recovery
and reuse. The efficiency of color removal achieved by the optimized photocatalyst on reuse was in the range
of 99–100%. The developed photocatalyst seems to be a promising candidate that can be further investigated
for large scale commercial applications.