西南石油大学研发新光催化剂 将污水变废为宝

A research team from Southwest Petroleum University in Sichuan Province has developed a low-cost, high-efficiency photocatalyst that uses visible light to purify water.

日前，四川省西南石油大学的一个研究小组研发了一种低成本、高效率的光催化剂，这种催化剂可以利用可见光来净化水质。

A photocatalyst is a substance that can help cause a light-catalyzed reaction, such as chlorophyll capturing sunlight to turn water and carbon dioXide into oxygen and glucose in photosynthesis.

光催化剂是一种可以能够引起光催化反应的物质，比如叶绿素可以捕捉阳光，在光合作用中将水和二氧化碳转化为氧气和葡萄糖。

Ordinary photocatalysts can decompose organic pollutants in sewage under ultraviolet light, which, however, only accounts for four percent of the solar spectrum, making this type of sewage treatment costly and preventing it from widespread application.

普通的光催化剂可以在紫外光下分解有机污染物，然而，紫外光只占太阳光谱的百分之四，使得这种污水处理的成本很高，并阻碍了它的广泛应用。

The research team of eight doctoral students turned to visible light, a spectrum accounting for 43 percent of sunlight. After four months of research, they developed a new photocatalyst Reac-O2 with good visible light absorption performance.

于是，由八名博士生组成的这个研究小组将目标转向了可见光，这种光谱占到了43%。经过四个月的研究，他们开发出了一种具有良好可见光吸收性能的新型光催化剂Reac-O2。

Reac-O2 can produce reactive oxygen species, purifying water by degrading organic pollutants into non- or low-toxic small-molecule substances.

Reac-O2可以产生活性氧，通过将有机污染物降解成无毒或低毒的小分子物质来净化水。

In experiments, the new photocatalyst performed more efficiently than traditional sewage treatment agents.

在实验中，新型的光催化剂比传统的污水处理剂更高效。

"The amount of water that used to be purified with one hour now can be purified in just 30 minutes," said Shi Xian, head of the research team.

研究小组负责人石晛表示：“过去花一小时才能净化的水，现在只需30分钟。”

Reac-O2 can be recycled at least 30 times and maintain a degradation rate of 85 percent.

Reac-O2可以再循环至少30次，并保持85%的降解率。

Using Reac-O2 to purify a ton of sewage will cost five yuan (0.73 US dollars) while using traditional technology costs 17 yuan, said Shi.

石晛称，使用Reac-O2净化一吨污水需要5元（0.73美元），而使用传统技术则需要17元。