f khoeini - department of applied chemistry and chemical engineering faculty of chemistry university of tabriz iran
a niaei - department of applied chemistry and chemical engineering faculty of chemistry university of tabriz iran
d salari - department of applied chemistry and chemical engineering faculty of chemistry university of tabriz iran
s.a hosseini - department of applied chemistry and chemical engineering faculty of chemistry university of tabriz iran

The present work deals with the photochemical removal of volatile organic compounds(VOCs)over the spinel ZnCr2O4. Nanostructure ZnCr2O4 has been prepared by nitrate way in order to produce homogeneous powder with large active surface. Pure ZnCr2O4 and 3 hybridphotocatalysts consisting of ZnCr2O4 and a support such as carbon nanotubes were investigated for the photocatalytic decomposition of isopropanol, a major indoor contaminant in indoor air. Physico-chemical properties were characterized by XRD, FTIR, and SEM. The catalytic activities of these oxides was evaluated in combustion of isopropanol in a laboratory scale setup. Catalytic activity of the catalysts pure ZnCr2O4 decreased and after 3 hours almost became completely deactive. In the another cases, adding activated carbon delated deactivation time and increased decomposition rate with moderate photocatalytic activity, but using of carbon nanotubes and HZSM-5 zeolite as a saport performs an exeedingly good photocatalytic activity with no deactivation. The first time, This study indicates that spinels can perform good photocatalytic activity for removing indoor VOCs and building a porous reaction surface such as adding porous supporter is a great way to increase the performance of them.

spinel,znCr2o4,photocatalytic decomposition,volatile organic compounds