Degradation of tricyclic polyaromatic hydrocarbons in water, soil and river sediment with a novel TiO2 based heterogeneous nanocomposite

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), pervasive and precedence pollutants have potential to decimate the bionetwork and human health. Therefore, photocatalytic degradation of toxic three membered PAHs, namely acenaphthene (ACN), phenanthrene (PHN) and fluorene (FLU) was explored in water and soil. Titanium dioxide based zinc hexacyanoferrate framework (TiO2@ZnHCF) nanocomposite was synthesized via a two step A. indica mediated co-precipitation method. Under sunlight, fall in concentration of PAHs (Water- 93%–96%, soil- 82%–86% and river sediment- 81.63%–85.43%) with time revealed superior activity of nanocomposite (TiO2@ZnHCF) as compared to the bared one. Slower degradation in soil and sediment could be attributed to the reduced diffusion caused by the interaction between the organic content of soil/sediment with PAHs. Doping caused an increase in surface area (118.15 m2g-1) with decrease in band gap energy (1.65 eV) and photoluminescence intensity. PAHs removal (Xm = 9.48 mg g−1 of ACN, 9.35 mg g−1 of PHN and 8.96 mg g−1 of FLU) involved role of “cation- π” interaction with nanocomposite. Besides, it reduced t1/2 values of ACN (1.88 h), PHN (2.09 h) and FLU (2.86 h) and resulted into smaller by-products. Smaller by-products like (Z)-prop-1-ene-1,2,3-triol (m/z = 91) and (E)-3-hydroxyacrylaldehyde (m/z = 71) identified in GC–MS, evidently braced e− excitement from encapsulated nanocatalyst followed by OH (active species) based oxidation of PAHs. Lower photoluminescence intensity indicates the least charge carrier recombination with highest photocatalytic activity of nanocomposites. Inclusive of the present study provides promising photocatalyst with greater surface activity, low quantum yield with charge separation, reusable up to ten cycles deprived of substantial loss of its action and suppressing the cost of process.