municipal waste residues

Sunlight Photodegradable Polystyrene-TiO2/SiO2 Composite

Photodegradable polystyrene-catalyst (PS-TiO2/SiO2) composite was prepared and characterized, and its degradation under sunlight was investigated. The morphology of TiO2/SiO2 was amorphous with particle size of 16.6–30.1 nm and the energy gap of the catalyst was calculated. The degradation process was for 288 h, the samples under investigation were two types standard (STD) samples – a mixture of PS with catalyst, and municipal waste residues (MWR) – a combination of PS-catalyst with MWR. The degradation was measured in dark and under sunlight.