Template free synthesis of mesoporous carbon from fire cracker waste and designing of ZnO-Mesoporous carbon photocatalyst for dye (MO) degradation

Abstract

The fire cracker waste materials are one of the reasons for environmental pollution and it’s very hazardous to human beings. Till today, not much attention has been given to its utility or recyclability. In the present work, we have first time reported the synthesis of mesoporous carbon nanoparticles (MCNPs) by using cost-free fire cracker waste having black columnar fluffy “snake-like” carbon using simple chemical activation and calcination method. The desired Zinc oxide–mesoporous carbon (ZMC) nanocomposites have been synthesized by precipitation and calcination method. Synthesized materials were characterized by XRD, FT-IR, UV–vis DRS, BET, PL, SEM, EDS and TEM. The above prepared nanocomposites were explored for their photocatalytic test under UV light irradiation. The photocatalytic degradation percentage of methyl orange (MO) dye using optimized Zinc oxide–mesoporous carbon-15 (ZMC15) nanocomposite reached 90 % after 120 min under UV light than the pristine ZnO. The cytotoxicity studies experimented on the gills of the freshwater fish Cirrhinus mrigala revealed that MO dye solution caused damage to gill architecture, whereas photodegraded dye solution was shown to be less toxic and did not modify the gill architecture structurally. These results demonstrated the importance of the desired material in concern with environmental issues.