Synthesis and characterization of CdS/UiO-66/Ag3PO4 nanocomposite for photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange under visible light irradiation

T Kebede,B Ergedo,A M Taddesse

doi:10.4314/bcse.v34i3.12

Abstract

Single, binary and ternary nanomaterials were synthesized by precipitation, solvothermal, simple solution and impregnation methods to serve as photocatalysts. The crystal structure, morphology, band gap energy, functional groups and optical properties of these materials were characterized by XRD, SEM-EDX, UV-Vis, FTIR, and PL instrumental techniques, respectively. Photocatalaytic degradation performances of all the as-synthesized photocatalysts were investigated under visible light irradiation using MO as a model organic pollutant. The photocatalytic degradation performances of all the photocatalysts were evaluated on aqueous solution of the model pollutant dye as well as on a real sewage sample solution collected from Bahir Dar Textile Share Company. Results suggested that the optimized ternary nanocomposite photocatalyst exhibited a relatively higher efficiency towards the photodegradation of both the methyl orange (MO) dye solution (90%) and the real sewage sample solution (71.2%). The effect of operational parameters such as pH (4), initial dye concentration (10 mg/L) and photocatalyst load (0.2 g/L) in MO dye degradation were investigated by using the ternary CdS/UiO-66/Ag3PO4 (R4) nanocomposite.  KEY WORDS: Metal-organic frameworks, Nanocomposite, Ternary system, Photocatalysts, Methyl orange  Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2020, 34(3), 571-588. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v34i3.12

Highlights

Water contamination by organic pollutants such as dyes is a serious environmental problem for human society
The most probable diffraction peaks of the metal organic frameworks (MOFs) were found below the scattering angle (2θ) of 10o and this may be due to the inverse relation of 2θ and porosity of the photocatalyst [30]
The results indicated that all the scavengers considered have suppressed the photocatalaytic degradation efficiency of the photocatalyst the effect of AgNO3 and CH3OH/H2O are more pronounced

Summary

Introduction

Water contamination by organic pollutants such as dyes is a serious environmental problem for human society. Many dyes are considered to be toxic and even carcinogenic [2]. Dye contaminated wastewaters mostly enter the environment as discharges from textile, leather, paper, printing, plastic, and food industries [3]. The presence of small amounts of dyes in water (even < 1 mg/L) is highly visible; it affects the pleasant appearance and causes significant loss in luminosity apart from depletion of oxygen in the aquatic system [4]. The presence of dye materials greatly influences the quality of water and the removal of these kinds of pollutants from the environment is indispensible [5]

Methods

Results

Conclusion