Thandiwe Totito - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
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Papers by Thandiwe Totito
Applied Sciences, 2021
The accumulation of plastic waste products in the environment has adversely affected wildlife and... more The accumulation of plastic waste products in the environment has adversely affected wildlife and human beings. Common plastics that accumulate in the environment are plastics that are made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) polymer. PET plastic waste products can be recycled for beneficial use, which would reduce their negative impacts. In this study, modified PET or waste PET (WPET) from plastic bottles was blended with powder commercial 2-(aminomethyl)pyridine (SiAMPy) resin and electrospun into composite nanofibres and applied for Cu2+ adsorption. PET-SiAMPy or WPET-SiAMPy composite nanofibres fibre diameters from the HRSEM images were 90–140 nm and 110–155 nm, respectively. In batch adsorption experiments, PET-SiAMPy or WPET-SiAMPy composite nanofibres achieved Cu2+ adsorption equilibrium within 60 secs of contact time with 0.98 mmol/g (89.87%) or 1.24 mmol/g (96.04%) Cu2+ adsorption capacity. The Cu2+ complex formation rate (k) with WPET-SiAMPy was 0.0888 with the mole ratio ...
Photocatalytic activity of supported TiO2 nanocrystals
ii In recent times, the occurrence and presence of complex recalcitrant toxic contaminants in wat... more ii In recent times, the occurrence and presence of complex recalcitrant toxic contaminants in water and wastewater is increasing and consequently contributes to the non-availability of clean and safe drinking water. Water treatment is complex, time demanding and energy intensive due to the physico-chemical structural complexity and diversity of the pollutants. Non-availability of good drinking water has negatively affected human health and the ecosystem. Over the years, numerous conventional treatment techniques were used to degrade and remove these pollutants, but investigations indicated that some of the pollutants are not susceptible to conventional treatment. Advanced oxidation technology, among which heterogeneous photocatalysis (involving the use of a semiconductor) has emerged as one of the more promising techniques to remediate contaminated water. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) semiconductor photocatalysis is considered to be a good option due to its cost effectiveness, chemical an...
Proceedings
The plastic and metal pollution accumulating in the marine environment has given many researchers... more The plastic and metal pollution accumulating in the marine environment has given many researchers motivation to investigate and provide solutions to this problem. [...]
Applied Sciences, 2021
The accumulation of plastic waste products in the environment has adversely affected wildlife and... more The accumulation of plastic waste products in the environment has adversely affected wildlife and human beings. Common plastics that accumulate in the environment are plastics that are made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) polymer. PET plastic waste products can be recycled for beneficial use, which would reduce their negative impacts. In this study, modified PET or waste PET (WPET) from plastic bottles was blended with powder commercial 2-(aminomethyl)pyridine (SiAMPy) resin and electrospun into composite nanofibres and applied for Cu2+ adsorption. PET-SiAMPy or WPET-SiAMPy composite nanofibres fibre diameters from the HRSEM images were 90–140 nm and 110–155 nm, respectively. In batch adsorption experiments, PET-SiAMPy or WPET-SiAMPy composite nanofibres achieved Cu2+ adsorption equilibrium within 60 secs of contact time with 0.98 mmol/g (89.87%) or 1.24 mmol/g (96.04%) Cu2+ adsorption capacity. The Cu2+ complex formation rate (k) with WPET-SiAMPy was 0.0888 with the mole ratio ...
Photocatalytic activity of supported TiO2 nanocrystals
ii In recent times, the occurrence and presence of complex recalcitrant toxic contaminants in wat... more ii In recent times, the occurrence and presence of complex recalcitrant toxic contaminants in water and wastewater is increasing and consequently contributes to the non-availability of clean and safe drinking water. Water treatment is complex, time demanding and energy intensive due to the physico-chemical structural complexity and diversity of the pollutants. Non-availability of good drinking water has negatively affected human health and the ecosystem. Over the years, numerous conventional treatment techniques were used to degrade and remove these pollutants, but investigations indicated that some of the pollutants are not susceptible to conventional treatment. Advanced oxidation technology, among which heterogeneous photocatalysis (involving the use of a semiconductor) has emerged as one of the more promising techniques to remediate contaminated water. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) semiconductor photocatalysis is considered to be a good option due to its cost effectiveness, chemical an...
Proceedings
The plastic and metal pollution accumulating in the marine environment has given many researchers... more The plastic and metal pollution accumulating in the marine environment has given many researchers motivation to investigate and provide solutions to this problem. [...]