Publication

Abstract : Due to rapid industrialization and urbanization, providing safe drinking water has become the biggest challenge especially in developing/low income countries. Several pathogens, including Escherichia coli (E. coli) in drinking water, can transmit waterborne diseases over a huge span. Existing disinfection methods like chlorination, ozonation, and UV treatment are known to produce harmful disinfection by-products , and these processes are associated with high operational costs and high energy consumption. In this regard, solar water disinfection (SODIS) method has been recommended for low income countries by Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, but this process requires more time, and also depends on the intensity of sunlight, initial pathogen concentration etc. newlineRecently, photocatalysis has emerged as a green technology for environmental remediation and also for the removal of biological contaminants. Semiconductor metal¬ based photocatalysts (i.e. ZnO, Ti02 etc.) are commonly used for water disinfection, but these photocatalysts possess high bandgap (gt3 eV) which necessitates the use of UV light newlineor an external light source to activate the process, making the process expensive. In recent years, non-metallic photocatalysts have been developed that show excellent photocatalytic activity under visible light. Elemental red phosphorus is one such promising non-metallic visible light active photocatalyst. Moreover, the majority of the photocatalysts for various environmental remedial applications are used in the slurry or suspension form. Hence, the photocatalyst needs to be removed after the photocatalysis either by filtration or centrifugation. These post purification processes may hamper the advantages of photocataly sis. newlineIn view of the above discussion, this thesis aimed at (i) Evaluating the photocatalytic activity of elemental red phosphorus as a non-metallic photocatalyst towards the disinfection of E. coli. (ii) Exploring the fibrous red phosphorus, a crystalline allotropic form...