Accelerating the Photocatalytic Degradation of Green Dye Pollutants by Using a New Coating Technique for Carbon Nanotubes with Nanolayered Structures and Nanocomposites

Abstract

The present study has two aims, first to accelerate the degradation of pollutants by coating carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with nanoplatelets or nanocomposites of aluminum zinc oxides and second to fabricate an advanced photocatalyst. Accordingly, Zn-Al layered double hydroxides (LDHs) were grown in the presence of functionalized CNTs during urea hydrolysis. The presence of CNTs led to the formation of LDH nanoplatelets, and TEM images showed that the CNTs were coated with nanoplatelets. The nanoplatelets were thermally treated to form nanocomposite-coated CNTs. Raman spectra demonstrated the successful coating of CNTs with LDHs and nanocomposite. The coated CNTs were very effective in the photocatalytic degradation of industrial pollutants. A kinetics study demonstrated that the rate of photocatalytic degradation of green dye in the presence of CNTs coated with aluminum zinc oxide nanocomposite was five times faster than with the aluminum zinc oxide nanocomposite.