Browsing by Author "Boateng, Angela"

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Photocatalytic remediation of selected emerging organic pollutants in industrial effluent using conducting polymeric-based nanocomposites photocatalysts -A review
(Elsevier, 2025-11-15) Oyetade, Joshua; Oluwafemi, Kolajo; Hammond, Vanessa; Boateng, Angela; Machunda, Revocatus; Hilonga, Askwar
Emerging organic pollutants in industrial effluents pose huge environmental and health challenges, with conventional effluent treatment methods often insufficient for effective abatement of these toxic pollutants. This is the rationale behind the need for the development of a novel class of photocatalysts known as conducting polymeric-based nanocomposites for proficient photocatalytic remediation of these pollutants. The pollutants of interest in this review are the pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs), pesticides and per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) with appreciable presence in industrial wastewater. The review comparatively reported various state-of-the-art engineering approaches for the fabrication of this class of nanocomposite photocatalysts with well-tailored properties for high-performance especially under visible photon irradiation. The findings identified in-situ polymerization, hydrothermal methods and facile decoration as proficient approaches for the development of this class of novel photocatalysts with over 90 % photocatalytic performance. The study also underscored the concise impacts of the conducting polymers especially their ability to serve as structural support thereby preventing possible leaching of other photocatalytic materials, especially metals. The review also presents the appreciable benefits of lowered agglomeration and efficient separation of electron-hole pairs and unique heterostructures formed due to the synergistic effect of the macromolecules with other materials in the nanocomposite. These attributes point to the stability and recyclable potentials of these fabricated photocatalysts and their versatile applicability for the remediation of targeted EOPs in wastewater.
Process modeling and optimization of photocatalytic treatment of dye-polluted effluent using novel polyaniline/graphene oxide-Fe3O4-Ag nanocomposites
(Elsevier, 2024-12-01) Oyetade, Joshua; Hulle, Stijn; Hammond, Vanessa; Boateng, Angela; Machunda, Revocatus; Hilonga, Askwar
This study developed a novel photocatalytic nanocomposite via in situ polymerization with 3 % blend of graphene oxide (GO), magnetite (Fe3O4) and silver nanoparticle (Ag-Nps) from AgNO3. Also, the process applied a new Fenton mediative approach for efficient abatement of toxic dye molecules in textile effluent under an energy-efficient source. The research focused on modeling and optimizing photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye (10 mg/L), using the most influencing variables such as pH (3–7), photocatalyst dosage (10–30 mg/100 mL) and irradiation time (20–90 min). The study demonstrated high photocatalytic efficiency for a 2.27 eV bandgap photocatalyst under 18 W visible LED light irradiation. The selected statistical model at optimized conditions allowed effective treatment of heavily polluted dye effluent from the flax textile industry, assessing efficiency via physicochemical property changes. The result suggested the selected quadratic model whose value of R2Adjusted was close to R2predicted with good correlation and reliability. All experimental variables via the analysis of variance were statistically significant (p-values <0.0001), with irradiation time and photocatalyst dosage having the greatest interactive influence on dye-effluent photocatalysis. Also, the optimization of the response gave an efficiency of 96.10 % which was validated by 5 repetitive experimental runs having an efficiency of 95.8 % ± 0.05 at selected optimized conditions of 79.24 min, 5.25 pH and dose of 21.76 mg/ 100 mL effluent. Thereafter, at the optimized conditions and 360 min of irradiation, 95.99 % dye effluent treatment were achieved. Thus, the study presents versatile industrial photocatalysts for treating heavily polluted dye effluent.