Impact factors of the degradation of bisphenol A by nitrocellulose membrane under illumination

Construction of dual Z-scheme Bi2WO6/g-C3N4/black phosphorus quantum dots composites for effective bisphenol A degradation

In this work, a novel dual Z-scheme Bi₂WO₆/g-C₃N₄/black phosphorus quantum dots (Bi₂WO₆/g-C₃N₄/BPQDs) composites were fabricated and utilized towards photocatalytic degradation of bisphenol A (BPA) under visible-light irradiation. Optimizing the content of g-C₃N₄ and BPQDs in Bi₂WO₆/g-C₃N₄/BPQDs composites to a suitable mass ratio can enhance the visible-light harvesting capacity and increase the charge separation efficiency and the transfer rate of excited-state electrons and holes, resulting in much higher photocatalytic activity for BPA degradation (95.6%, at 20 mg/L in 120 min) than that of Bi₂WO₆ (63.7%), g-C₃N₄ (25.0%), BPQDs (8.5%), and Bi₂WO₆/g-C₃N₄ (79.6%), respectively. Radical trapping experiments indicated that photogenerated holes (h⁺) and superoxide radicals (•O₂^-) played crucial roles in photocatalytic BPA degradation. Further, the possible degradation pathway and photocatalytic mechanism was proposed by analyzing the BPA intermediates. This work also demonstrated that the Bi₂WO₆/g-C₃N₄/BPQDs as effective photocatalysts was stable and have promising potential to remove environmental contaminants from real water samples.

Current progress in treatment technologies for plastic waste (bisphenol A) in aquatic environment: Occurrence, toxicity and remediation mechanisms

Bisphenol-A (BPA) is a type of endocrine disrupting compound (EDC) that is being widely used in the production of polycarbonate and epoxy resins. In the last few years, human exposure to BPA has been extensively high due to the continuous increment in the Annual Growth Rate (AGR) of the BPA global market. The presence and transportation of BPA in the environment could cause serious damage to aquatic life and human health. This paper reviewed the literature on the exposure and toxicity mechanisms of BPA and advanced analytical techniques for the detection of BPA in the environment and human beings. The study indicated that BPA can cause damaging effects on numerous tissues and organs, including the reproductive system, metabolic dysfunction, respiratory system, immune system and central nervous system. On the basis of reported studies on animals, it appears that the exposure of BPA can be carcinogenic and responsible for causing a variety of cancers like ovarian cancer, uterine cancer, prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and liver cancer. This review paper focused mainly on the current progress in BPA removal technologies within last ten years (2012-2022). This paper presents a comprehensive overview of individual removal technologies, including adsorption, photocatalysis/photodegradation, ozonation/advance oxidation, photo-fenton, membranes/nanofilters, and biodegradation, along with removal mechanisms. The extensive literature study shows that each technology has its own removal mechanism and their respective limitations in BPA treatment. In adsorption and membrane separation process, most of BPA has been treated by electrostatic interaction, hydrogen boning and π-π interations mechanism. Whereas in the degradation mechanism, O* and OH* species have played a major role in BPA removal. Some factors could alter the removal potential and efficiency of BPA removal. This review paper will provide a useful guide in providing directions for future investigation to address the problem of BPA-containing wastewater treatment.

Microfiltration Membranes for the Removal of Bisphenol A from Aqueous Solution: Adsorption Behavior and Mechanism

This study mainly investigated the adsorption behavior and mechanism of microfiltration membranes (MFMs) with different physiochemical properties (polyamide (PA), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), nitrocellulose (NC), and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)) for bisphenol A (BPA). According to the adsorption isotherm and kinetic, the maximum adsorption capacity of these MFMs was PA (161.29 mg/g) > PVDF (80.00 mg/g) > NC (18.02 mg/g) > PTFE (1.56 mg/g), and the adsorption rate was PVDF (K1 = 2.373 h−1) > PA (K1 = 1.739 h−1) > NC (K1 = 1.086 h−1). The site energy distribution analysis showed that PA MFMs had the greatest adsorption sites, followed by PVDF and NC MFMs. The study of the adsorption mechanism suggested that the hydrophilic microdomain and hydrophobic microdomain had a micro-separation for PA and PVDF, which resulted in a higher adsorption capacity of PA and PVDF MFMs. The hydrophilic microdomain providing hydrogen bonding sites and the hydrophobic microdomain providing hydrophobic interaction, play a synergetic role in improving the BPA adsorption. Due to the hydrogen bonding force being greater than the hydrophobic force, more hydrogen bonding sites on the hydrophobic surface resulted in a higher adsorption capacity, but the hydrophobic interaction contributed to improving the adsorption rate. Therefore, the distribution of the hydrophilic microdomain and hydrophobic microdomain on MFMs can influence the adsorption capacity and the adsorption rate for BPA or its analogues. These consequences provide a novel insight for better understanding the adsorption behavior and mechanism on MFMs.

Fabrication of electrochemically-modified BiVO4-MoS2-Co3O4composite film for bisphenol A degradation

A new electrochemically-modified BiVO₄-MoS₂-Co₃O₄ (represented as E-BiVO₄-MoS₂-Co₃O₄) thin film electrode was successfully synthesized for environmental application. MoS₂ and Co₃O₄ were grown on the surface of BiVO₄ to obtain BiVO₄-MoS₂-Co₃O₄. E-BiVO₄-MoS₂-Co₃O₄ film was achieved by further electrochemical treatment of BiVO₄-MoS₂-Co₃O₄. The as-prepared E-BiVO₄-MoS₂-Co₃O₄ exhibited significantly enhanced photoelectrocatalytic activity. The photocurrent density of E-BiVO₄-MoS₂-Co₃O₄ thin film is 6.6 times that of BiVO₄ under visible light irradiation. The degradation efficiency of E-BiVO₄-MoS₂-Co₃O₄ for bisphenol A pollutant was 81.56% in photoelectrochemical process. The pseudo-first order reaction rate constant of E-BiVO₄-MoS₂-Co₃O₄ film is 3.22 times higher than that of BiVO₄. And its reaction rate constant in photoelectrocatalytic process is 14.5 times or 2 times that in photocatalytic or electrocatalytic process, respectively. The improved performance of E-BiVO₄-MoS₂-Co₃O₄ was attributed to the synergetic effects of the reduction of interfacial charge transfer resistance, the formation of oxygen vacancies and sub-stoichiometric metal oxides and higher separation efficiency of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. E-BiVO₄-MoS₂-Co₃O₄ is a promising composite material for pollutants removal.