Comparing the Efficiency of Nanostructured Pure and Modified ZnO in the Photocatalytic Degradation of Acridine Orange Dye from Wastewater

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Department of Environmental Sciences and Industrial Development, Faculty of Post Graduate Studies for Advanced Sciences, Beni-Suef university

Abstract

Recently, industrialization and environmental pollution on a global scale have drawn attention to the essentiality of developing eco-friendly purification techniques. The existing wastewater treatment techniques required high capital coasts for operation & maintenance. Cost-effective treatment technologies need to transform the hazardous substances into benign forms. Moreover, minimizing the adverse effects of the produced subsequent those are mostly toxic, persistent, and difficult to treat. This study describes a treatment method for acridine orange (AO) dye degradation and decolorization in wastewater under UV- Visible light utilizing both pure ZnO and Ag+ doped ZnO. UV–Vis spectrophotometry has been used to study the photodegradation processes of the dye. Several characterizing parameters were studied as initial dye concentration, initial pH values, amount of catalyst, and the abundance of Na2SO4 and NaCl. The catalysis effect of both pure ZnO Ag+ doped ZnO has been compared. The degradation efficiency and optimum conditions had been determined. The obtained results revealed that the modified form of Ag+ doped ZnO exhibits higher efficiency in (AO) dye degradation than that of pure form catalyst ZnO.

Keywords

Main Subjects