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Doping TiO2 with Cu from electroplating wastewater for remarkable improvement of its activity under visible light for E. coli bacterial disinfection in water

  • Endang T. Wahyuni ORCID logo EMAIL logo , Kusuma P. Suwondo , Eka Pratista , Jeannina C. Rani , Andrew Avrillostya , Nurul H. Aprilita , Eko T. Sulistyani and Nur F. Jaafar
Published/Copyright: January 28, 2025

Abstract

This study investigates the feasibility of use electroplating wastewater as a source of copper (Cu) dopants to improve the photocatalytic efficacy of TiO2 under visible light for the disinfection of water contaminated with Escherichia coli. The Cu-doped TiO2 was produced by the sol-gel process, employing titanium tetra-isopropoxide (TTIP) and Cu(II) ions derived from wastewater. By modifying the concentration of Cu(II), TiO2-Cu photocatalysts with differing copper concentrations were synthesized. The doping procedure substantially decreased the band gap of TiO2, facilitating activation under visible light and markedly enhancing its photocatalytic efficacy. The ideal Cu doping concentration was determined to be 0.60 %, which decreased the band gap from 3.20 eV (pure TiO2) to 2.88 eV. Under visible light, the TiO2-Cu (0.60 %) photocatalyst attained a remarkable 98.21 % reduction of E. coli after 30 min, in contrast to a mere 38.42 % reduction by undoped TiO2. This study emphasizes the feasibility of using industrial wastewater to develop economical and effective TiO2 photocatalysts for water purification purposes.


Corresponding author: Endang T. Wahyuni, Chemistry Department, Faculty of Mathematic and Natural Sciences, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, 55281, Indonesia, e-mail:
Article note: A collection of invited papers based on presentations at the 9th International Conference for Young Chemists (ICYC 2024) held on 9–11 Oct 2024 in Penang, Malaysia.

Funding source: Gadjah Mada University

Award Identifier / Grant number: 2459/UN 1/FMIPA.1.3/KP/PT.01.03/2024

Acknowledgments

Authors thank to Faculty of Mathematic and Natural Sciences UGM for financial support through Flagship Research Grant with the contract number: 2459/UN 1/FMIPA.1.3/KP/PT.01.03/2024, Februaty 16 2024.

  1. Research ethics: Not applicable.

  2. Informed consent: Not applicable.

  3. Author contributions: Conceptualization, E.T.W.,K.P.S; writing original draft, E.T.W.,K.P.S; Writing – review & editing, E.P; Visualization, K.P.S, E.P; Investigation, K.P.S; Methodology, E.T.W, K.P.S; Supervision and Validation, E.T.W, N.H.A, E.T.S, N.F.J.

  4. Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: None declared.

  5. Conflict of interest: The authors state no conflict of interest.

  6. Research funding: Flagship Research Grant with the contract number: 2459/UN 1/FMIPA.1.3/KP/PT.01.03/2024, Februaty 16 2024.

  7. Data availability: Not applicable.

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Supplementary Material

This article contains supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2024-0271).


Published Online: 2025-01-28
Published in Print: 2025-06-26

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