Rigorous modeling of UV absorption by TiO2 films in a photocatalytic reactor

The radiation absorption profiles on the surfaces of TiO2 films in a corrug ated-plate photocatalytic reactor were modeled based on first principles. A new term, the local-area-specific rate of energy absorption (LASREA), was adopted to describe the catalyst surface radiation in heterogeneous photore actors. The LASREA and the energy absorption efficiency were both quite sen sitive to the dimensions of the corrugated plates. Due to the multiple phot on reflections between the opposing surfaces, corrugated plates possess a s uperior capability for recapturing longer wavelength photons that would oth erwise be reflected out of some reactor designs. This results in higher ene rgy absorption efficiency and more uniform LASREA on the catalyst films. Co mpared to a flat plate, corrugations are predicted to enhance the energy ab sorption efficiency by up to 50% for UV-A fluorescent-lamp-powered systems and more than 100% for solar-powered systems.