Abstract
We are trying to find an application of fullerene to water treatment processes, because price of fullerene is getting much cheaper. In this work, we found that phenol in aqueous solution was oxidized by fullerene under visible-light irradiation. Circulating air bubbled through a flask containing 200 ml phenol aqueous solution and 1 g C60 (70%) - C70 (25%) fullerene after four 100W clear lamps were stabilized. Concentration of phenol was photometrically analyzed by 4-aminoantipyrine method. Several runs at the same condition revealed that phenols decreased monotonically with time. Decomposition rate was correlated as the second order in phenol concentration and the reaction rate coefficient was estimated as 12.1 l/mol h. However, reaction mechanism is thought that a triplet state fullerene exited by visible light transfers energy to an oxygen atom, and excited single state oxygen atoms oxidize to decompose organic substances such as phenol, we have to set up a more reliable reaction mechanism.
