A research group from the Australian National University (ANU) claim to have found an alternative to ultraviolet (UV) light disinfection technologies. The chemists have developed a system that uses modified titanium dioxide as a photo-catalyst that works with sunlight and claim that it is 15 times more efficient.

The team added nitrogen and niobium ions in pairs into the titanium dioxide to improve its performance as a photo-catalyst.

According to research group leader Professor Yun Liu, the photo catalyst can completely decompose organic pollutants in wastewater within 20 minutes.

ANU conducted the research in collaboration with the University of New South Wales, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Western Sydney University, and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation.

The research is entitled The Formation of Defect-Pairs for Highly Efficient Visible-Light Catalysts, and was published in Advanced Materials. It proposes that fine-tuning the chemical scheme consisting of charge-compensated defect-pairs in balanced concentrations is a key missing step for realising outstanding photocatalytic performance. This research therefore is set to benefit photocatalytic applications as well as to providing a new insight into the significance of defect chemistry for functionalising materials.

ANU said the new technology could be “useful for treating water for human consumption and has potential applications in making self-cleaning building materials, including glass, and splitting water to make hydrogen fuel”.

Professor Yun Liu said: “With innovative chemistry design, we can use our photo catalyst to purify water with natural sunlight instead of UV light and dramatically reduce costs for operators…our photo catalyst, compared with the leading commercialised products which take one hour to decompose only 26 percent of the same pollutants.”

The university has filed a provisional patent covering the discovery, which involved the design strategy, chemical composition and manufacturing approach.

This is breakthrough research and could mean a massive difference in the sector, making breaking down wastewater far more affordable, especially to developing, poor countries where the lack of hygiene and freshwater costs millions of live annually.

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