Abstract

In this study, a photocatalysis-assisted adsorption process was proposed to remove a typical azo dye, Congo red (CR), from wastewater, using Ag2O. The organic dyes were adsorbed using Ag2O, and photodegraded in situ under visible light irradiation, thus, eliminating the desorption step. The results indicated that the maximal adsorption capacity of Ag2O for CR reached 180.8 mg/g at the initial CR concentration of 300 mg/L and pH 7. The adsorption of CR could be described using the Langmuir equation, and obeyed the pseudo-second-order kinetic expression. The CR adsorbed by Ag2O was completely photodegraded in 35 min to regenerate the Ag2O adsorbent under visible light irradiation, and only a slight decrease in the performance of Ag2O was observed after four cycles. This photocatalysis-assisted adsorption process could be extended to other azo dyes including acid orange 7 and amido black 10B, but could not be applied to non-azo dyes such as rhodamine B and methylene blue. This adsorption behavior difference was ascribed to the similar molecular orbital structures of Ag2O and azo dyes.

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