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Abstract: In this work, the homogeneous and heterogeneous degradations of diphenamid (DPA) in aqueous solution were conducted by direct photolysis with UVC (254nm) and by photocatalysis with TiO2/UVA (350nm), and the experimental results were compared. It was found that the homogeneous photolysis by UVC irradiation alone was quite efficient to degrade DPA up to 100% after 360min, but was very inefficient to mineralize its intermediates in terms of dissolved organic carbon reduction of only 8%. In contrast, the heterogeneous photocatalysis with TiO2/UVA showed relatively a lower degree of DPA degradation (51%), but a higher degree of its mineralization (11%) after 360min. These results reveal that the photocatalysis process has relatively poor selectivity to degrade different compounds including various intermediates from the DPA degradation, which is beneficial to its mineralization. In addition, over 20 intermediates were identified by LC–MS and 1H NMR analyses. Based on the identified intermediates, the reaction mechanisms and the detailed pathways of the DPA degradation by photolysis and photocatalysis were proposed, and are presented in this paper. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this study, the highly-ordered TiO2 nanotube (TNT) arrays on titanium sheets were prepared by an anodic oxidation method. Under UV illumination, the TNT films demonstrated the higher photocatalytic activity in terms of 2,3-dichlorophenol (2,3-DCP) degradation in aqueous solution than the conventional TiO2 thin films prepared by a sol–gel method. The effects of dissolved oxygen (DO) and pH on the photocatalytic degradation of 2,3-DCP were investigated. The results showed that the role of DO in the 2,3-DCP degradation with the TNT film was significant. It was found that 2,3-DCP in alkaline solution was degraded and dechlorinated faster than that in acidic solution whereas dissolved organic carbon removal presented an opposite order in dependence of pH. In the meantime, some main intermediate products from 2,3-DCP degradation were identified by a 1H NMR technique to explore a possible degradation pathway. A major intermediate, 2-chlororesorcinol, was identified from the 2,3-DCP decomposition as a new species compared to the findings in previous reports. Photocatalytic deactivation was also evaluated in the presence of individual anions (, Cl−, , and ). The inhibition degree of photocatalytic degradation of 2,3-DCP caused by these anions can be ranked from high to low as >Cl− > > . The observed inhibition effect can be attributed to the competitive adsorption and the formation of less reactive radicals during the photocatalytic reaction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]