20.500.12556/DiRROS-30009 Advanced TiO2-based catalysts for polypropylene degradation in aquatic media Plastics are polluting our environment and oceans with a large number and variety of organic and inorganic compounds that arise as a consequence of the current industrial development. Every year we release to the environment millions of tons of plastics whose total elimination may take centuries. The exponential increase in the production of this material is causing a serious environmental problem, resulting in the generation of a large amount of this waste. Microplastics (MPs) are released into the environment in different ways, but one of the most important is through effluents from wastewater treatment plants, since no specific method is used to eliminate or degrade these MPs before they are discharged into the environment. Polypropylene (PP), together with low-density polyethylene (PE), are the most common MPs found in the environment, being released in an amount of approximately 112 million tons per year. Three catalysts, ZnO/TiO2, CeO2/TiO2 and ZnO-CeO2/TiO2, were synthesized using the incipient wetness impregnation technique and tested under UV-A and UV-B irradiation for the degradation of polypropylene (PP) particles. A degradation of 6.6 ± 1.6 % of MP area in wastewater was obtained, slightly lower than the 8.4 ± 1.0 % observed with ultrapure water, likely due to the presence of organic matter and other compounds in the Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) outlet. Additionally, toxicity assays using Phaeodactylum tricornutum revealed significant differences among treatments. The ZnO-CeO2/TiO2 catalyst resulted in lower growth inhibition compared to ZnO/TiO2, which showed toxicity levels similar to those of UV-aged PP-MPs without catalyst, highlighting the role of catalyst composition in modulating the environmental toxicity of degraded microplastics. wastewater photocatalysis advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) polymer degradation environmental remediation odpadne vode fotokataliza napredni oksidacijski postopki razgradnja polimerov sanacija okolja true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Neznano 2026-06-11 12:41:14 2026-06-11 12:41:15 2026-06-12 03:54:44 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2025 0 0 Nasl. z nasl. zaslona; Soavtorji: A.P. Martín-García, J.M. Salas-Calvo, D. Coello, R. Rodríguez, I. Moreno-Garrido, M. Sendra, M.P. Yeste; Opis vira z dne 27. 5. 2026; str. 1-9 Vol. 394, [article no.] 127289 2025 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 2025-11-01 504.5:574.64 1095-8630 10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.127289 279491075 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301479725032657?via%3Dihub 1 12ad50fb-6582-11f1-9215-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=45222 RAZ_Egea-Corbacho_Agata_2025.pdf RAZ_Egea-Corbacho_Agata_2025.pdf 1 0BA921D3EF60D4679F89DCD30D1ADA60 857bd27aecc9a7aed4f65a4e87eeb80a067fcf1b260b854e4e08268696fb6e32 3ee44dfc-6582-11f1-9215-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=45223 RAZ_Egea-Corbacho_Agata_2025.pdf RAZ_Egea-Corbacho_Agata_2025.pdf 1 E1EB27997C13D8501BDF44DFFE82FE06 0ce8389ecc2640aa72150bbdb0cdc23e8084b8fadae5d8a8f2fe07d501337d83 57818c0b-6582-11f1-9215-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=45224 Nacionalni inštitut za biologijo 0 0 0