Solar-powered microfluidic photocatalysis

N. Wang, L. Lei, Xuming Zhang, Helen L.W. Chan, D. P. Tsai

Research output: Chapter in book / Conference proceedingConference article published in proceeding or bookAcademic researchpeer-review

Abstract

Microfluidics configuration may facilitate greater success for photocatalytic water treatment. In this paper, we designed a planar microfluidic reactor which can overcome the limitations of mass transfer and photon transfer in the previous photocatalytic reactors and improve the photoreaction efficiency by 2 orders of magnitude. The microreactor consisted of two TiO2-coated glass slides and a microstructured UV-cured NOA81 layer, forming a planar chamber (5 cm × 1.8 cm × 100 μm). In our studies, methylene blue (MB) was used as the model chemical. 3 ml MB solution (3×10-5M) was degraded by more than 60% within 15 min using the microfluidic reactor, and the reaction rate constant was found to be 100 times higher than that by using the bulk reactor. The photodegradation performance of the microreactor was also optimized by adjusting the TiO2film thickness and flow rate and achieved a reaction rate of 8% s-1under solar irradiation.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationNEMS 2011 - 6th IEEE International Conference on Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems
Pages429-432
Number of pages4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 4 Oct 2011
Event6th IEEE International Conference on Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems, NEMS 2011 - Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Duration: 20 Feb 201123 Feb 2011

Conference

Conference6th IEEE International Conference on Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems, NEMS 2011
Country/TerritoryTaiwan
CityKaohsiung
Period20/02/1123/02/11

Keywords

  • microfluidics
  • photocatalysis
  • solar energy
  • water treatment

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

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