Enhanced photodegradation of textile dye wastewater using silane/polymer doped ZnO nanocomposites and antibacterial activity

Abstract

Accumulation of textile dye wastewater is major global issue that causes negative impact to the ecosystem. This study focuses on industrial textile dye effluent treatment by photodegradation, and degradation of Malachite green dye under sunlight, visible and UV light. ZnO demonstrated hexagonal wurtzite structure with average crystallite size 38 nm for ZnO/PEG, 21 nm for ZnO/PEG/VTES and 17 nm for ZnO/PEG/VTMS. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy revealed nanometer sized particles and purity. Bandgap energy and particle size of ZnO/PEG/VTMS is 102 nm and 3.134 eV is lesser than ZnO/PEG (147 nm, 3.181 eV) and ZnO/PEG/VTES (109 nm, 3.151 eV). Photoluminescence analysis revealed reduced recombination rate of ZnO/PEG/VTMS. Antibacterial efficacy of ZnO/PEG/VTMS was tested against Staphylococcus aureus (35 mm) and Escherichia coli (29 mm). Photodegradation of textile dye wastewater by ZnO/PEG/VTMS under visible and UV light exposure revealed an effective way for textile dye effluent treatment, which maintained its efficiency even after five photodegradation cycles.