Visible light oxidation of inorganic sulfide by modified Nb-containing photocatalysts

Visible light oxidation of inorganic sulfide by modified Nb-containing photocatalysts | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Visible light oxidation of inorganic sulfide by modified Nb-containing photocatalysts Iza F.B. Silva, Vitor F. de Almeida, Fábio L. R. Silva, Marcelo G. Rosmaninho, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6215116/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Inorganic sulfide, a pollutant present in massive quantities in effluents from different industries is an extremely toxic and corrosive contaminant that causes several economic and environmental damages. For these reasons, this study brings a promising and environmentally friendly technique of heterogeneous photocatalysis using visible light as an energy source, to transform inorganic sulfides into less toxic forms of sulfur, such as sulfate (SO 4 2− ), thiosulfates (S 2 O 3 2− ). Niobium(V) oxides were modified with cobalt species and showed a bandgap in a wide range of visible light. The results show that the sulfide oxidation reactions are all pseudo-first order and that the Co-containing material with the highest amount of Co 3+ species presents lower activation energy (E a ). UV-Vis spectroscopy reveals that all modified materials photooxidized more than 88% of a 4000 ppm S 2− solution, at 25ºC, reaching almost 100% oxidation in just 2h by the best material, mNb 2 − x Co x O 5, maintain up to 80% of catalytic capacity for 6 reaction cycles. Raman analyses confirmed the presence of SO 4 2− and S 2 O 3 2− species after the reactions. Mechanisms studies have shown that the most important reactive species for the photooxidation is superoxide radical (O 2 − •), but the reaction occurs through a combination involving these radicals and singlet oxygen species (O 2 *). Inorganic pollutant sunlight activation semiconductors reactive oxygen species Photocatalysis oxidation Full Text Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6215116","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":435759826,"identity":"7cdc1e27-f5b5-41c6-9929-86b6c21d12fd","order_by":0,"name":"Iza F.B. 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For these reasons, this study brings a promising and environmentally friendly technique of heterogeneous photocatalysis using visible light as an energy source, to transform inorganic sulfides into less toxic forms of sulfur, such as sulfate (SO\u003csub\u003e4\u003c/sub\u003e\u003csup\u003e2\u0026minus;\u003c/sup\u003e), thiosulfates (S\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eO\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e\u003csup\u003e2\u0026minus;\u003c/sup\u003e). Niobium(V) oxides were modified with cobalt species and showed a bandgap in a wide range of visible light. The results show that the sulfide oxidation reactions are all pseudo-first order and that the Co-containing material with the highest amount of Co\u003csup\u003e3+\u003c/sup\u003e species presents lower activation energy (E\u003csub\u003ea\u003c/sub\u003e). UV-Vis spectroscopy reveals that all modified materials photooxidized more than 88% of a 4000 ppm S\u003csup\u003e2\u0026minus;\u003c/sup\u003e solution, at 25\u0026ordm;C, reaching almost 100% oxidation in just 2h by the best material, mNb\u003csub\u003e2\u0026thinsp;\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;x\u003c/sub\u003eCo\u003csub\u003ex\u003c/sub\u003eO\u003csub\u003e5,\u003c/sub\u003e maintain up to 80% of catalytic capacity for 6 reaction cycles. Raman analyses confirmed the presence of SO\u003csub\u003e4\u003c/sub\u003e\u003csup\u003e2\u0026minus;\u003c/sup\u003e and S\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eO\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e\u003csup\u003e2\u0026minus;\u003c/sup\u003e species after the reactions. Mechanisms studies have shown that the most important reactive species for the photooxidation is superoxide radical (O\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u003c/sup\u003e\u0026bull;), but the reaction occurs through a combination involving these radicals and singlet oxygen species (O\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e*).\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Visible light oxidation of inorganic sulfide by modified Nb-containing photocatalysts","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-04-18 15:17:00","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6215116/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"04a95770-91ed-4f7f-9aaa-95396a393c03","owner":[],"postedDate":"April 18th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-05-01T04:55:33+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-04-18 15:17:00","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-6215116","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-6215116","identity":"rs-6215116","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}