Studies on the photocatalytic activity of metal oxide and their composite for dye degradation application

Abstract

In this work, ZnO nanorods and Graphene-ZnO-PdO nanocomposite was synthesized through hydrothermal method. Crystallinity of the materials has been studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and morphology was analysed through Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. The synthesized nanomaterials are used for the photocatalytic degradation of Methylene Blue (MB) under UV-light illumination (365 nm) and the results were compared with commercial ZnO material. Graphene-ZnO-PdO nanocomposite exhibits higher degradation of MB under UV-light illumination than ZnO nanorods and commercial ZnO material. These nanocomposite materials can so be used for methylene blue MB photodegradation as for textile wastewater treatment.