Hierarchical optofluidic microreactor for water purification using an array of TiO2 nanostructures

Hyejeong Kim, Hyunah Kwon, Ryungeun Song, Seonghun Shin, So Young Ham, Hee Deung Park, Jinkee Lee, Peer Fischer, Eberhard Bodenschatz

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Clean water for human consumption is, in many places, a scarce resource, and efficient schemes to purify water are in great demand. Here, we describe a method to dramatically increase the efficiency of a photocatalytic water purification microreactor. Our hierarchical optofluidic microreactor combines the advantages of a nanostructured photocatalyst with light harvesting by base substrates, together with a herringbone micromixer for the enhanced transport of reactants. The herringbone micromixer further improves the reaction efficiency of the nanostructured photocatalyst by generating counter-rotating vortices along the flow direction. In addition, the use of metal-based substrates underneath the nanostructured catalyst increases the purification capacity by improving the light-harvesting efficiency. The photocatalyst is grown from TiO2 as a nanohelix film, which exhibits a large surface-to-volume ratio and a reactive microstructure. We show that the hierarchical structuring with micro- to nanoscale features results in a device with markedly increased photocatalytic activity as compared with a solid unstructured catalyst surface. This is evidenced by the successful degradation of persistent aqueous contaminants, sulfamethoxazole, and polystyrene microplastics. The design can potentially be implemented with solar photocatalysts in flow-through water purification systems.

Original languageEnglish
Article number62
Journalnpj Clean Water
Volume5
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022 Dec

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Water Science and Technology
  • Waste Management and Disposal
  • Pollution
  • Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

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