Cheap and efficient strategy for photocatalytic degradation of ionic liquids by La/Ce-codoped TiO₂@PAM composites

Ionic liquids are regarded as green solvents mainly due to their non-volatile and easy regeneration and recycling properties. However, ionic liquids have negative effects on the environment and human health, especially alkyl imidazole ionic liquids are more toxic than traditional organic solutions. Studies on the toxicology, ecotoxicology, and degradation of ionic liquids are rarely found in the literature. Here, we prepared the cheap La and Ce-codoped TiO₂@PAM (polyacrylamide) composite microspheres with a simple procedure for the first time to degrade three kinds of imidazole ionic liquids with high efficiency. The experimental results show that the composite La (0.25%) and Ce (0.15%)-codoped TiO₂@PAM composite microspheres with calcination temperature of 450 °C had a high photocatalytic activity for 1-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium hexafluorophosphate, 1-hexyl-3-methyl imidazolium hexafluorophosphate, and 1-octyl-3-methyl imidazolium hexafluorophosphate with the concentration of 10 mg/L. The photocatalysis degradation extent of the three ionic liquids is 97.4, 91.2, and 88.5% at 90 min. This work opened a new route for the simple preparation of cheap composite microspheres in the photocatalytic degradation of ionic liquids with a high efficiency.