T. (Thomas) Brouwer

Fabrication and photocatalytic assesment of a PDMS-Based microreactor with focus on Atrazine as an organic degradation model compound

Photocatalytic decomposition of low molecular weight organic impurities and pharmaceutical contaminants in water has become of paramount interest recently. TiO₂ is the most studied photocatalyst due to its appealing characteristics such as chemically and biologically inertness, abundance and being cost effective, and relatively convenient production methods. However, in the majority of cases the catalyst is incorporated in macroscale systems where the TiO₂ powder is suspended in an aqueous solution which is irradiated by UV light. Inefficient light distribution and subsequent removal of the catalyst are among the drawbacks attributed to these systems. Microreactors, compared with conventional reactors, have various beneficial properties such as high surface area to volume ratio and small diffusion and light propagation distance, which make them suitable as heterogeneous photocatalytic reactors.

In this project we focus on degradation of Atrazine as an undesirable organic compound found in drinking water employing photocatalysis in a PDMS based microreactor (Fig.1). Fabrication of the microreactor, catalyst immobilization and analysis by Uv-Vis spectrometer are supposed to be implemented within this project.

Fig. 1. a PDMS-Based microreactor under UV-Light