Photocatalytic degradation of deltamethrin by using Cu/TiO2/bentonite composite

Abstract

In the present work, titanium dioxide nanoparticles and Cu/TiO2/bentonite composites were prepared by using thermal decomposition and reduction method. The samples were characterized by FTIR, XRD, TGA and SEM. The photocatalytic properties of the prepared composites were studied for the degradation of deltamethrin. Several factors on degradation process were investigated such as total time of light irradiation, pH of the solution and concentration of catalyst to optimize the reaction conditions. It was observed that the prepared metal doped composite possesses high efficiency for the degradation of the insecticide. The degradation process follows first order kinetics. Antibacterial activity of the synthesized composites was also studied and the result shows that obtained composites possess good antibacterial activity.