C: ZnO Composites for Improving Catalytic Activity of ZnO

Abstract

Nowadays industries are letting out many reactive dyes making them waste and causing many serious environmental and ecological problems. Many researchers are working on the appropriate method to remove pollutants and impurities from different industries. ZnO is considered as important photocatalyst, due to its excellent properties, including non-toxicity, high redox potential, low cost, and environmentally friendly features. Activated carbon, due to its high surface area and pore volume, is considered the most efficient adsorbent in pollutant removal. It is considered an important adsorbent having a unique structure related to its functional properties. Kinetic studies of dye adsorption on activated carbon and its modified forms are widely studied by many researchers. We have synthesized ZnO by reflux method followed by doping various concentrations (2:1), (1:1) and (1:2) of activated carbon into ZnO. The Photocatalytic experiment is performed with Methylene Blue, Eosin-Y Dye, and Rose Bengal dye. The synthesized ZnO powder and ZnO composite with activated carbon are characterized by various characterization techniques such as UV-Visible Spectra, X-Ray diffraction, and Scanning Electron Microscopy. The band calculated was observed for (a), (b), (c) and (d) respectively to be nearly equal to 3.2 eV. Welldistributed activated carbon attached to the surface of ZnO is observed. The composition of zinc (Zn) and oxygen (O) peaks approves the purity of ZnO nanoparticles. Further, Photocatalytic dye degradation of Methylene Blue dye was observed in 14 min.