Preparation of hollow ceramic photocatalytic membrane grafted with silicon-doped TiO2 nanorods and conversion of high-concentration NO

A silicon-doped TiO2 nanorod (NR) graft hollow ceramic photocatalytic membrane was fabricated by a two-step hydrothermal method. The photocatalytic membranes’ surface morphology, elemental composition, group, elemental chemical valence, roughness, water contact angle and porosity were characterized by SEM-EDX, FTIR, XPS, AFM, contact-angle analysis, and mercury-injection test, respectively. The catalytic properties of the membrane surface were characterized by XRD, UV–Vis spectroscopy and PL. The catalytic separation performance of the photocatalytic membrane was evaluated by the conversion rate of NO to nitrate and the production of the intermediate NO2. Results exhibited 67.11 % higher conversion efficiency of NO (300 ppm) under UV light illumination than the individual photocatalytic system The existence of membrane structure promoted the nitrate selectivity in the photocatalytic NO process. The Si-TiO2 NR photocatalytic membrane, which coupled photocatalysis with the membrane-separation processes, showed great potential application for treatment of the high-concentration NO in thermal power plants, owing to its separation capability, good photocatalytic activity, and reusability.