Abstract
Semiconductor-based photocatalysis is a well-known and efficient process for achieving water depollution with very limited rejects in the environment. Zinc oxide (ZnO), as a wide-bandgap metallic oxide, is an excellent photocatalyst, able to mineralize a large scale of organic pollutants in water, under UV irradiation, that can be enlarged to visible range by doping nontoxic elements such as Ag and Fe. With high surface/volume ratio, the ZnO nanostructures have been shown to be prominent photocatalyst candidates with enhanced photocatalytic efficiency, owing to their being low-cost, non-toxic, and able to be produced with easy and controllable synthesis. Thus, ZnO nanostructures-based photocatalysis can be considered as an eco-friendly and sustainable process. This paper presents the photocatalytic activity of ZnO nanostructures (NSs) grown on different substrates. The photocatalysis has been carried out both under classic mode and microfluidic mode. All tests show the notable photocatalytic efficiency of ZnO NSs with remarkable results obtained from a ZnO-NSs-integrated microfluidic reactor, which exhibited an important enhancement of photocatalytic activity by drastically reducing the photodegradation time. UV-visible spectrometry and high-performance liquid chromatography, coupled with mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS), are simultaneously used to follow real-time information, revealing both the photodegradation efficiency and the degradation mechanism of the organic dye methylene blue.
Highlights
The management of water resources is a continually growing issue, impacting human health, climate change and the global economy [1]
This work is a review of our previous works on the development of Zinc oxide (ZnO) NSs-based photocatalyst materials by hydrothermal synthesis and their photocatalytic activity for organic dyes removal
The universality and the feasibility of the synthesis method were presented from the initial Si substrates to non-conventional substrates such as civil engineering materials, allowing for the obtaining of zinc oxide nanostructures (ZnO NSs) with gap values from 3.18 eV
Summary
The management of water resources is a continually growing issue, impacting human health, climate change and the global economy [1]. Water pollution problems, notably caused by various dyes originating from the textile, pharmaceutical and food-processing industries, increase at the same time For this reason, water quality and treatment were set at the top of societal priority action list [2] to find efficient, low-cost, and environmentally friendly purification processes, leading to a huge increase in the research on this topic. To produce highly efficient materials for water remediation, a variety of photocatalysts and synthesis methods have been developed [5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. In order to develop new photocatalytic materials, it is needed to use eco-friendly photocatalysts, synthesized with a low-cost method, by using the least chemical products possible and employing the shortest possible fabrication period. This paper will investigate the photodegradation mechanisms of two organic dyes, methylene blue (MB) and Acid Red 14 (AR14), by UV-visible spectrometry (UV-vis) and high-performance liquid chromatography, coupled with mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
