Conversion of clay minerals to photocatalysts for Cr reduction and salicylic acid decomposition

Sugita, Tsuyoshi   ; Mori, Masanobu*; Shimoyama, Iwao   

We have investigated the conversion of biotite, a subgroup of clay minerals, into photocatalysts by heat treatment with CaCl. The reaction products obtained after heat treatment were examined in terms of composition, structure, and photocatalytic activity against Cr and salicylic acid (SA). When mixtures of biotite and CaCl were heated at temperatures up to 600C, the biotite crystal structure was retained, whereas a phase transformation from biotite to octahedral wadalite crystals occurred upon heating to 700C. The photocatalytic reduction rate of Cr per unit surface area and the photocatalytic degradation efficiency of SA increased significantly with increasing treatment temperature. Even the samples that retained the biotite structure after heat treatment displayed some photocatalytic activity, suggesting that this method may also be suitable for preparing photocatalysts from other common natural materials.