Abstract
Aniline and its derivate are critical environmental pollutants, and thus, the introduction of an eco-friendly catalyst for removing them is an important research future. The ZnO supported on the ball-mill prepared clinoptilolite nanoparticles (CNPs) was prepared via an ion-exchange process followed by the calcination process. The amount of loaded ZnO in the ZnO-CNP (CZ) samples varied as 0.54, 0.63, 0.72, and 0.86 meq/g as the Zn(II) concentration in the ion-exchange solution varied from 0.1 to 0.5 M. The ZnO-CNP catalyst was briefly characterized by XRD, FTIR, and DRS techniques. The pHpzc value for the various ZnO-CNPs was about 7.1 that had no change with the ZnO loading. By applying the Scherrer equation on the XRD results, a nano-dimension of about 50 nm was obtained for the catalyst. Bandgap energy of the ZnO-CNP samples was estimated by applying the Kubelka-Munk equation on the DRS reflectance spectra. The value for the CZ2 catalyst was about 3.64 eV. The supported ZnO-CNP sample was then used in the photodegradation of 2,4-dichloroaniline (DCA). Raw zeolite showed a relatively low photocatalytic activity. The degradation efficiency was followed by recording the absorbance of the DCA solution by UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The effects of the essential critical operating factors on the degradation efficiency were kinetically studied by applying the Hinshelwood equation to the results. The ZnO-CNP catalyst with 2 w% ZnO showed the best photocatalytic rate in the optimal conditions of 0.75 g/L, CDCA: 15 ppm, and the initial pH: 5.8. Finally, HPLC analysis of the blank and the photodegraded DCA solutions at 180 and 300 min confirmed 74 and 87% of DCA molecules were degraded during these times. The results confirm that supported ZnO onto clinoptilolite caused enhanced photocatalytic activity because the zeolite internal electrical field prevents the e-/h+ recombination.
Highlights
Nowadays, an increased need to purified water is essential for the human’s life due to the increased world population and industrial activities
The ZnO supported on the ball-mill prepared clinoptilolite nanoparticles (CNPs) was prepared via an ionexchange process followed by the calcination process
The supported ZnO-CNP sample was used in the photodegradation of 2,4-dichloroaniline (DCA).The effects of the most important key operating factors on the degradation efficiency was kinetically studied by applying the Hinshelwood equation on the results
Summary
An increased need to purified water is essential for the human’s life due to the increased world population and industrial activities. The initial photogenerated electron/hole pairs (e/h) can produce by the illumination of arrived UV or visible photons in the conduction (CB) and valence (VB) of the semiconductor These photoinduced e/h pairs can attack to the organic pollutants directly.They can react with the dissolved oxygen and water molecules and produce superoxide and hydroxyl radicals, respectively, as other two main reactive species for destroying the pollutants ( Habibi et al 2011; Shabani et al 2016; Honarmand et al 2020; Khanmohammadi et al 2020; Shah et al 2016; Mohamed JafferSadiq et al 2014; Rashmi et al 2020; Bordbar et al 2016). Hinshelwood equation was applied on the results and the kinetics of some important experimental variables supporting effect, the size of clinoptilolite used, the amount of the loaded ZnO, solution pH, concentration of DCA and the dose of the ZnO-CNP catalyst was studied on the DCA photodegradation
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