Application of polydimethylsiloxane in photocatalyst composite materials: A review

摘要

Efficient and environmentally friendly purification of wastewaters from toxic pollutants is a serious challenge both for science and industry. One of the most promising approach consists in photocatalytically-driven chemical degradation of organic pollutants to form nontoxic gases. High efficiency is achieved when photocatalyst is used in a form of a fine powder. However, it gives rise to a new problem related to filtration and separation of photocatalyst particles from water that is being purified. We demonstrate how involvement of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) in preparation of photocatalytically-active materials in various configurations, e.g. PDMS as a host for embedding for photocatalyst particles, impervious or porous PDMS as a carrier for surface mounted photocatalyst, or PDMS chemically bonded to photocatalyst in a form of a thin coating can help to overcome limitations of powder photocatalyst and increase the efficiency of photocatalysis. The whole range of native properties of PDMS such as optical transparency, ease of fabrication and fine-tuning of the base properties of material, chemical stability, ecological friendliness among others makes PDMS superior when compared to other candidates for fabrication of photocatalyst composites.