Evaluation of Au–ZnO, ZnO/Ag2CO3 and Ag–TiO2 as Photocatalyst for Wastewater Treatment

Abstract

In this work series of photocatalysts based on ZnO modified by Au and Ag2CO3 addition and Ag–TiO2 materials were synthesized and evaluated in the treatment of handicrafts factories wastewater and water samples taken from a highly polluted river. In general, it was found that ZnO series were more effective in the bacteria elimination than the commonly used TiO2 semiconductor. It was also observed that the metal (Au, Ag) or silver carbonate addition significantly increases the photocatalytic activity of ZnO and TiO2. It was determined that the content of the metal or carbonate added is an important factor to take into account in order to obtain suitable efficiency in the photocatalytic process, so, for example in the case of the river water samples the increase of Ag2CO3 content from 1 to 5%, had a detrimental effect over the bacteria elimination. The optimal conditions for dyes photodegradation and bacteria elimination were found by using a response surface study and the Au–ZnO (1%) photocatalyst. From this study it was determined that even after recycling this material leads to obtain a removal percentage of these pollutants over than 94%.