Water Vapor Condensation Triggers Simultaneous Oxidation and Hydrolysis of Organic Pollutants on Iron Mineral Surfaces.

Increasing worldwide contamination with organic chemical compounds is a paramount environmental challenge facing humanity. Once they enter nature, pollutants undergo transformative processes that critically shape their environmental impacts and associated risks. This research unveils previously overlooked yet widespread pathways for the transformations of organic pollutants triggered by water vapor condensation, leading to spontaneous oxidation and hydrolysis of organic pollutants.

Accelerated Photolysis of HO at the Air-Water Interface of a Microdroplet.

Photochemical homolysis of hydrogen peroxide (HO) occurs widely in nature and is a key source of hydroxyl radicals (·OH). The kinetics of HO photolysis play a pivotal role in determining the efficiency of ·OH production, which is currently mainly investigated in bulk systems. Here, we report considerably accelerated HO photolysis at the air-water interface of microdroplets, with a rate 1.

Water Vapor Condensation on Iron Minerals Spontaneously Produces Hydroxyl Radical.

The hydroxyl radical (OH) is a potent oxidant and key reactive species in mediating element cycles and pollutant dynamics in the natural environment. The natural source of OH is historically linked to photochemical processes (e.g.

Spontaneous Oxidation of Thiols and Thioether at the Air-Water Interface of a Sea Spray Microdroplet.

The transport of dissolved organic sulfur, including thiols and thioethers, from the ocean surface to the atmosphere through sea spray aerosol (SSA) is of great importance for the global sulfur cycle. Thiol/thioether in SSA undergoes rapid oxidation that is historically linked to photochemical processes. Here, we report the discovery of a non-photochemical, spontaneous path of thiol/thioether oxidation in SSA.

Rare-earth single atoms decorated 2D-TiO nanosheets for the photodegradation of gaseous O-xylene.

In this work, rare-earth single atoms (La, Er) were decorated on the surface of 2D-TiO nanosheets by an impregnation-calcination strategy. The formation of rare-earth single atoms was certified by AC HAADF-STEM and XAS. TiO decorated with rare-earth single atoms (La-TiO and Er-TiO) exhibited outstanding photocatalytic activity than pure 2D-TiO nanosheets (2D-TiO) towards gas-phase degradation of O-xylene.

Improved photocatalytic oxidation performance of gaseous acetaldehyde by ternary g-CN/Ag-TiO composites under visible light.

In the process of photocatalytic oxidation (PCO), titanium dioxide (TiO) shows excellent capabilities. However, when TiO is used to remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs), there are some drawbacks including weak adsorption of gaseous contaminants, insufficient utilization of sunlight, and rapid recombination of photogenerated carriers. Herein, a TiO-based ternary heterogeneous photocatalyst, g-CN/Ag-TiO, was successfully fabricated to photodegrade gaseous acetaldehyde (one of the representatives of oxygenated VOCs) under visible light.

Carbon quantum dots-TiO nanocomposite as an efficient photocatalyst for the photodegradation of aromatic ring-containing mixed VOCs: An experimental and DFT studies of adsorption and electronic structure of the interface.

In this work, we have developed and optimized TiO nanoparticles decorated with carbon quantum dots to examine its potential use in the photocatalytic oxidation of aromatic ring containing gas-phase mixed volatile organic compounds, e.g., benzene, toluene, and p-xylene.