西南石油大學研發新光催化劑 將污水變廢爲寶

A research team from Southwest Petroleum University in Sichuan Province has developed a low-cost, high-efficiency photocatalyst that uses visible light to purify water.

日前，四川省西南石油大學的一個研究小組研發了一種低成本、高效率的光催化劑，這種催化劑可以利用可見光來淨化水質。

A photocatalyst is a substance that can help cause a light-catalyzed reaction, such as chlorophyll capturing sunlight to turn water and carbon dioXide into oxygen and glucose in photosynthesis.

光催化劑是一種可以能夠引起光催化反應的物質，比如葉綠素可以捕捉陽光，在光合作用中將水和二氧化碳轉化爲氧氣和葡萄糖。

Ordinary photocatalysts can decompose organic pollutants in sewage under ultraviolet light, which, however, only accounts for four percent of the solar spectrum, making this type of sewage treatment costly and preventing it from widespread application.

普通的光催化劑可以在紫外光下分解有機污染物，然而，紫外光只佔太陽光譜的百分之四，使得這種污水處理的成本很高，並阻礙了它的廣泛應用。

The research team of eight doctoral students turned to visible light, a spectrum accounting for 43 percent of sunlight. After four months of research, they developed a new photocatalyst Reac-O2 with good visible light absorption performance.

於是，由八名博士生組成的這個研究小組將目標轉向了可見光，這種光譜佔到了43%。經過四個月的研究，他們開發出了一種具有良好可見光吸收性能的新型光催化劑Reac-O2。

Reac-O2 can produce reactive oxygen species, purifying water by degrading organic pollutants into non- or low-toxic small-molecule substances.

Reac-O2可以產生活性氧，通過將有機污染物降解成無毒或低毒的小分子物質來淨化水。

In experiments, the new photocatalyst performed more efficiently than traditional sewage treatment agents.

在實驗中，新型的光催化劑比傳統的污水處理劑更高效。

"The amount of water that used to be purified with one hour now can be purified in just 30 minutes," said Shi Xian, head of the research team.

研究小組負責人石晛表示：“過去花一小時才能淨化的水，現在只需30分鐘。”

Reac-O2 can be recycled at least 30 times and maintain a degradation rate of 85 percent.

Reac-O2可以再循環至少30次，並保持85%的降解率。

Using Reac-O2 to purify a ton of sewage will cost five yuan (0.73 US dollars) while using traditional technology costs 17 yuan, said Shi.

石晛稱，使用Reac-O2淨化一噸污水需要5元（0.73美元），而使用傳統技術則需要17元。