PHOTOCATALYTIC DEGRADATION OF SOME ENDOCRINE DISRUPTING AGENTS OVER SnO2 QUANTUM DOTS DECORATED TiO2 NANOSPHERES COMPOSITE

Abstract

Our survival on Earth depends on three basic resources water, air and soil, nature s three valuable gifts to mankind. Among these, water is the most important component as it forms the basic medium for origin of life, but it is becoming rapidly polluted as a result of effluents thrown in our natural resources. Explosives, pesticides and insecticides, pharmaceutical drugs, personal care products, food and beverages, textile, dyeing and printing industries, etc. are major industries causing water pollution. One of the most challenging issues of the last decades is the presence of organic pollutants in the effluents of waste water treatment plants, due to their toxicity on both; human health and environment. The occurrence of new/emerging microcontaminants (e.g., endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs)) in polluted water/wastewater has rendered existing conventional water/wastewater treatment plants ineffective to meet the environmental standards. The discharge of these compounds into the aquatic environment has affected all living organisms. The traditional materials and treatment technologies like activated carbon, oxidation, activated sludge, nanofiltration (NF), and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes are not effective to treat complex and complicated polluted waters comprising of pharmaceuticals, personal care products, surfactants, various industrial additives, and numerous chemicals. The conventional water treatment processes like membrane filtration, coagulation-flocculation, biological treatment, catalytic oxidation, sorption process, ion-exchange, etc. are not able to address adequately the removal of various toxic chemicals and pathogenic microorganisms in raw water. These treatment methods for removal of dyes from the waste water suffer from some or other drawbacks. Therefore, an efficient method is needed for mineralization or degradation of organic pollutants into harmless products. newlineThis is the right time to address water problems since aquifers around the world are depleting due to multiple factors such as