Photocatalytic treatment of rhodamine 6G in wastewater using photoactive ZnO

Abstract

The photocatalytic activity of zinc oxide, prepared by precipitation followed by calcination, was tested using rhodamine 6G as a rebel organic compound. The experiments were planned in order to allow an optimization procedure, by investigating the effects of different parameters such as the preparative method of the solid, amount of photocatalyst, pH of the reaction medium, and initial concentration of the dye. The results were compared with those obtained on P-25 Titania, and one of the samples had similar performances in terms of dye degradation degree, but needed higher pH values to prevent the photocatalyst degradation. © 2012 Doina Lutic et al.