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Surface Oxygen Vacancy Engineering for Enhanced Volatile Organic Compounds Removal in Solar-Interfacial Water
Dailin Yang1, Yang Guo1, Ziwei Yu1
1MOE Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Ecosystem Health, Institute of Environmental Health, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
Environmental Science & Technology
|April 2, 2025
Summary
This study enhances solar water production by engineering photocatalysts with oxygen vacancies (OVs). This boosts volatile organic compound (VOC) removal efficiency, yielding cleaner condensed water.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Environmental Science
- Chemical Engineering
Background:
- Solar-interfacial water-vapor conversion offers a sustainable path to clean water, especially in arid regions.
- A critical challenge is the co-distillation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) with water vapor, contaminating the produced water.
- Surface oxygen concentration at the air-water interface is significantly higher than in bulk water, presenting an opportunity for enhanced reactions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel photocatalyst design leveraging surface oxygen vacancies (OVs) to improve VOC removal during solar water-vapor conversion.
- To maximize oxygen utilization and photocarrier efficiency at the air-water interface for enhanced photocatalytic activity.
- To demonstrate the effectiveness of OV-engineered photocatalysts for simultaneous water production and VOC remediation.
Main Methods:
- Engineered photocatalysts with surface oxygen vacancies (OVs).
- Investigated the role of OVs in enhancing oxygen adsorption and charge carrier separation.
- Evaluated the photocatalytic performance for VOC (phenol) removal and water vapor generation flux using BiOCl and ZnO-based systems.
Main Results:
- Surface OVs significantly enhanced reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation (·O2- and ·OH).
- OV-engineered BiOCl photocatalyst showed a 3.41-fold increase in VOC removal efficiency compared to conventional systems.
- Achieved over 99.6% VOC removal and a water vapor generation flux of 1.90 kg/m2/h.
- The OV-engineering strategy was validated with ZnO-based photocatalysts, showing broad applicability.
Conclusions:
- Surface OVs are crucial for maximizing oxygen utilization and photocarrier dynamics at the air-water interface.
- OV-engineered photocatalysts provide a highly efficient and scalable solution for simultaneous VOC removal and clean water production.
- This approach represents a significant advancement in photocatalytic water treatment technologies for water-scarce regions.
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