Sincere congratulations to Pawel Lisowski for his excellent Ph.D. thesis “Synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic properties of composite materials: Biomass-derived TiO2/carbon materials”, defended today in front of his thesis supervisor, external advisors, and jurors.
This thesis was prepared within the International Doctorate in Chemical Studies of the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw and directed by Prof. Juan Carlos Colmenares Quintero, Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences, with Prof. Dr. Fernando Colmenares of the Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia as External Advisor of the thesis.
This thesis presents a synthesis of new composite materials based on TiO2 and new carbon- based supports (e.g. Starbon®, biochar), by a conventional sol-gel and wet impregnation method promoted through unconventional sources of energy (ultrasound) and new composite materials prepared by laboratory batch pyrolysis system. Carbon materials derived from biomass have very interesting properties, owing to the presence of various functional groups on its surface, which depend on its pre-treatment (e.g. treatment with ultrasounds) and can potentially react in different ways with a precursor of TiO2, leading to composite materials, which have different physicochemical properties. The research plan for this PhD thesis focuses primarily on using cost-efficient methods such as ultrasound-assisted wet impregnation method, ultrasound-assisted sol-gel method, and laboratory batch pyrolysis system to study the synthesis, extensive characterization and photocatalytic performance of prepared composite materials (TiO2/carbon materials derived from biomass) by photocatalytic degradation of phenol (liquid phase) and selective oxidation of methanol (gas phase) in the self – constructed continuous fixed-bed photoreactor gas system which was built to correlate the photocatalytic properties of prepared materials under UV and visible light irradiation.
A Doctoral Dissertation
Synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic properties of composite materials: TiO2/carbon materials derived from biomass
Paweł Lisowski
Supervisor:
Juan Carlos Colmenares Quintero PhD DSc
Assoc Prof IPC PAS
Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences
This dissertation was prepared within the International PhD
in Chemistry Studies at the Institute of Physical Chemistry
of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw
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