Solar Photocatalysis of TiO<sub>2</sub> Supported Natural Palygorskite Nanofibers Elaborated by a One_Pot Mechanochemical Route

This study reports the successful synthesis of supported TiO2_Palygorskite nanocomposites by a one-pot dry mechanochemical route. Indeed, the elaboration procedure involved an in-situ reaction between accessories carbonates present in raw fibrous palygorskite clay and titanyl sulfate (TiOSO4) precursor under variable grinding conditions, essentially ball/solid matter mass ratio and rotation velocity. This yielded after air annealing at 600%C for 1 h to the immobilization of anatase TiO2 nanoparticles (≈8 nm of average size) as evidenced by XRD and TEM analyses. Once the conditions of elaboration were optimized, the photocatalytic properties were evaluated under 3 conditions: artificial UV radiation, artificial solar radiation (UV + visible range) and under dynamic solar illumination taking into account the discontinuities of the solar resource. The results allowed the estimation and comparison of the catalyst’s capabilities and showed its ability to work under natural irradiation. The so developed supported photocatalysts TiO2/Palygorskite exhibited a good activity towards the removal of Orange G (OG) dye from aqueous media under artificial UV and natural solar radiations.