Benedict College is requesting support to acquire solar simulation equipment as infrastructure for the creation of a photocatalysis lab. The immediate use of this instrument by faculty and students in the School of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) is to study the degradation of organic and inorganic contaminants in aqueous systems. Heterogeneous photocatalysis is a promising technique for the detoxification and disinfection of environmental contaminants such as oxides of carbon, sulfur and nitrogen. Photochemical and photobiological investigations of water quality management require the utilization of a solar simulator to mimic ultraviolet light for photocatalytic studies. The instrumentation is vital to support current and future research in five areas including photobiological studies of plants, animals, and cell cultures, phototoxicity, and photodegradation. In addition, the requested instrumentation will be used in seven undergraduate science and engineering courses and will be available for use by other research groups in the Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Health Science and the Physics and Engineering Departments.
