Photocatalytic Advanced Oxidation Processes for Water Treatment: Recent Advances and Perspective

Nowadays, an ever-increasing variety of organic contaminants in water has caused hazards to the ecological environment and human health. Many of them are persistent and non-biodegradable. Various techniques have been studied for sewage treatment, including biological, physical and chemical methods. Photocatalytic advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have received increasing attention due to their fast reaction rates and strong oxidation capability, low cost compared with the non-photolytic AOPs. This review is dedicated to summarizing up-to-date research progress in photocatalytic AOPs, such as Fenton or Fenton-like reaction, ozonation and sulfate radical-based advanced oxidation processes. Mechanisms and activation processes are discussed. Then, the paper summarizes photocatalytic materials and modification strategies, including defect chemistry, morphology control, heterostructure design, noble metal deposition. The future perspectives and challenges are also discussed.