Methylene blue degradation photocatalytic activity of C60 fullerene nanowhisker–ZnS:Mn-glycine composites

Abstract

ZnS:Mn-gly and C60 fullerene nanowhisker–ZnS:Mn-gly composites were synthesized and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and Raman spectroscopy. The photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) under UV light irradiation was evaluated by UV-vis spectroscopy using ZnS:Mn-gly and C60 fullerene nanowhisker–ZnS:Mn-gly composites. The C60 fullerene nanowhisker–ZnS:Mn-gly composites showed better photocatalytic activity of MB degradation than the ZnS:Mn-gly composites. The kinetics study for the photocatalytic degradation of MB with ZnS:Mn-gly and C60 fullerene nanowhisker–ZnS:Mn-gly composites as photocatalyst under UV irradiation followed a pseudo-first-order reaction rate law. The stability of the photocatalysts after the photocatalytic reaction was studied using XRD and SEM.