Photocatalytic Degradation of Tebuconazole Fungicide using Palygorskite-TiO2 nanocomposites.

In our study a combination of Palygorskite clay mineral with TiO2 nanoparticles used for the decomposition of the common tebuconazole (TEB), C16H22ClN3O, [(RS)-1-p-chlorophenyl-4,4-dimethyl-3-(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-ylmethyl)-pentan-3-ol], fungicide in water. For this purpose, Palygorskite-TiO2 nanocomposites fabricated using the sol-gel process combined with hydrothermal treatment of the samples under mild conditions. The Palygorskite-TiO2 nanocomposites were characterized by X-Ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and N2 specific surface area (SSA) analysis by BET. The total pore volume and SBET was 0.49 cm3/g and 258 m2/g for the Palygorskite 40% - TiO2 60% sample. The Palygorskite 10% - TiO2 90% sample has 0.33 cm3/g and 220 m2/g pore volume and SBET respectively. The highest degradation efficiency 88.4% was achieved for Palygorskite 40% - TiO2 60% sample while commercial TiO2 nanopowder Degussa P25 sample exhibited 33.0% degradation efficiency which is much lower. The Palygorskite-TiO2 nanocomposites show that they are effective and promising new class of materials for the photocatalytic degradation of TEB fungicide in water.