Visible Light Driven Photocatalytic Degradation Of The Reactive Red-198, Methylene Blue And 3-chloro Phenol By Nb2O5@Zno: Synthesis And Characterization

¹Department of Chemistry & Centre of Excellence in Energy Research, International Research Centre,  Sathyabama University, Jeppiaar Nagar, Chennai 600 119, India

²Department of Inorganic Chemistry, School of Chemical Sciences, University of Madras,  Guindy Campus, Chennai 600 025, India

³Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, International Research Centre, Sathyabama University,  Chennai 600 119, India  

Adv. Mater. Lett., 2015, 6 (6), pp 518-526

DOI: 10.5185/amlett.2015.5776

Publication Date (Web): May 28, 2015

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E-mail: chennanml@yahoo.com

Abstract

In-situ synthesis of ZnO and Nb₂O₅ composites was carried out in alkaline medium. The obtained composites were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance UV-Vis spectrophotometer (DRS), Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area method, N₂-sorption isotherms, Thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA), Particle size  and Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM/EDX). The synthesized composite was used as photocatalyst in the degradation of reactive red-198 (RR), methylene blue (MB) and 3-chloro phenol (3CP) under visible light irradiation. The catalytic activity and removal percentage of dye was determined by the spectrophotometric method, it indicates high percentage of degradation for the ZnO:Nb₂O₅  composite. The kinetic parameters were found to obey pseudo-first order oxidation reaction, which may be due to the fixed amount of the catalyst and concentration of the dye solution. The recycled and purified composites of  ZnO:Nb₂O₅ was tested the catalytic activity and  was compared with that of the fresh catalyst.

Keywords

Zinc oxide, niobium oxide, photocatalyst, visible light, reactive red198, methylene blue, chlorophen.