Adsorption factor and photocatalytic degradation of dye-constituent aromatics on the surface of TiO2 in the presence of phosphate anions

The photocatalytic degradation for some kinds of dye-constituent aromatics with TiO2 in the presence of phosphate anions in aqueous dispersion was investigated under both visible light (lambda > 480 nm) and UV irradiation. The influences of phosphate anion upon the degradation of organics under these different conditions was revealed by the measurement of point of zero zeta-potential (P-ZC) of TiO2, UV-VIS spectra, HPLC and LC-MS. The adsorption and photodegradation of some organics, which adsorb on the surface of TiO2 by a dominating group bearing a positive charge, was enhanced, while that of others, which adsorb on the surface of TiO2 by a dominating group bearing negative charge, was depressed by the presence of phosphate anions under UV irradiation at the experimental conditions (pH 4.3). It was confirmed that better adsorption of organics on the surface of TiO2 had an advantage in their photocatalytic degradation under UV irradiation. On the other hand, although the adsorption of rhodamine B (RhB) and methylene Blue (MB) markedly increased, their degradation under visible light irradiation was depressed in the presence of phosphate anions. It is suggested that phosphate anion greatly blocked the electron transfer from excited RhB and MB molecules as RhB and MB molecules predominantly adsorbed on the surface of TiO2 through the electrostatic interaction with surface adsorbed phosphate anions.