Solar driven photocatalytic activity of TiO 2 -ZnO nanocomposite

Abstract

The purpose of the present investigation was to study the applicability of ZnO-TiO 2 composite as a photocatalyst for degradation of methylene blue. Effects of various parameters such as catalyst dosage, pH and contact time on the removal efficiency of methylene blue were studied. The results of XRD and FT-IR analysis demonstrated formation of composite. The greatest removal of dye was observed at pH 12 at a loading of 0.2g/L for composite having 80% mole ratio of ZnO. Kinetics followed pseudo first order model with rate constant (k) of 0.0346min-1. Photocatalytic activity was maintained even after two successive cycles.