Abstract
Zirconium dioxide (ZrO 2 ) is a semiconductor material which its photocatalytic properties for degradation of methylene blue has been investigated in this research. ZrO 2 was prepared from ZrCl 4 solution by adding NaOH through precipitation method without ultrasonication, and also with ultrasonication for 1 h and 2 h. The specimens of ZrO 2 were analyzed by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET). The XRD of all ZrO 2 samples showed that the smallest ZrO 2 crystal size was 8.149 nm based on Debye-Scherrer calculations for ultrasonic time of 2 h. The lattice parameter of ZrO 2 under tetragonal phase was analyzed using Rietvield refinement by La Beil method. The specific surface area of all ZrO 2 specimens were confirmed by BET. The result showed specific surface area of 99.741 m 2 /g for treatment with 2 h ultrasonication. The effect of ultrasonic assisted precipitation could increase the photocatalytic activity. This result showed that the degradation of methylene blue by ZrO 2 with 2 h ultrasonication is higher than both by ZrO 2 with 1 h ultrasonication and ZrO 2 without ultrasonication with values of 93.00 %, 88.32 % and 77.53 % respectively, at 120 min irradiation, pH of 10 and 0.05 g of ZrO 2
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
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 call
