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Water Disinfection Using Chitosan Microbeads With N-, C-, C-N/TiO2 By Photocatalysis Under Visible Light

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Abstract

Chitosan microbeads with C-doped TiO2, N-doped TiO2 and C,N-codoped TiO2 were prepared to obtain photocatalysts with higher photocatalytic efficiency, active under visible light and easy to removed from aqueous medium. TiO2 powders were synthesized by the sol–gel method and modified using glucose and ammonium nitrate as source of C and N, respectively. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), DRUV–Vis spectra and Raman techniques, were used to characterize the modified TiO2 powders. The structural and physicochemical properties of the microbeads were analyzed by nitrogen physisorption, functional groups were identified by Fourier transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and microbeads were observed by optical microscopy. The microbeads photocatalytic efficiency under visible light was evaluated monitoring the E. coli growth-inhibition, determined by colony count analysis (CFU—colony forming units). Results showed effectiveness in all tested composites to inhibit E. coli growth in 24 h under visible light. Furthermore chitosan microbeads with C,N-codoped TiO2 showed the best performance in the degradation test being the most effective composite to achieving 99.99% of E. coli growth inhibition in less than 4 h.

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Funding

This work was supported by the project CONACyT 285669. Special thank you to M. C Jorge Velázquez Velázquez for his support in the establishment of the E. coli crop. Aba-Guevara thanks to CONACyT by her postdoctoral grant. Gracia-Pinilla wants thanks to PAICyT-UANL for the Grant CE867-19.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Investigador de Cátedras CONACyT- ITNL. Centro de Investigación e Innovación Tecnológica-TecNM/ITNL, Apodaca, N.L., Mexico

    Cinthia G. Aba Guevara & Norma Alicia Ramos Delgado

  2. Tecnológico Nacional de México-Instituto Tecnológico de Nuevo León, Centro de Investigación e Innovación Tecnológica, Apodaca, N.L., Mexico

    René Sanjuan Galindo

  3. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Físico Matemáticas, Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, San Nicolás de los Garza, N.L., Mexico

    Miguel Angel Gracia Pinilla

  4. Desarrollo Ambiental Máximo, Guadalupe, N.L., Mexico

    Daniela Xulú Martínez Vargas

  5. Instituto Tecnológico de Nuevo León-TecNM, Centro de Investigación e Innovación Tecnológica, Apodaca, N.L., Mexico

    Cinthia G. Aba Guevara, René Sanjuan Galindo & Norma Alicia Ramos Delgado

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  1. Cinthia G. Aba Guevara
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  2. René Sanjuan Galindo
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  3. Miguel Angel Gracia Pinilla
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  4. Daniela Xulú Martínez Vargas
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  5. Norma Alicia Ramos Delgado
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Correspondence to Norma Alicia Ramos Delgado.

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Aba Guevara, C.G., Sanjuan Galindo, R., Gracia Pinilla, M.A. et al. Water Disinfection Using Chitosan Microbeads With N-, C-, C-N/TiO2 By Photocatalysis Under Visible Light. Top Catal 64, 142–154 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11244-020-01356-2

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