Статья

Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity of Ficus elastica Mediated Zinc Oxide-Zirconium Dioxide Nanocatalyst at Elevated Calcination Temperature: Physicochemical Study

Sirajul HaqDepartment of Chemistry, University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Muzaffarabad 13100, PakistanHumma AfsarDepartment of Chemistry, University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Muzaffarabad 13100, PakistanIsraf Ud DinDepartment of Chemistry, College of Science and Humanities, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 173, Al-Kharj 11942, Saudi ArabiaPervaiz AhmadDepartment of Physics, University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Muzaffarabad 13100, PakistanMayeen Uddin KhandakerCenter for Applied Physics and Radiation Technology, School of Engineering and Technology, Sunway University, Bandar Sunway 47500, MalaysiaHamid OsmanDepartment of Radiological Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Taif University, Taif 21944, Saudi ArabiaSultan AlamriDepartment of Radiological Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Taif University, Taif 21944, Saudi ArabiaMuhammad Imran ShahzadNational Center for Physics (NCP), Nanosciences and Technology Department (NS & TD), Islamabad 44000, PakistanNadia ShahzadUS-Pakistan Centre for Advanced Studies in Energy, National University of Science and Technology (NUST), Islamabad 44000, PakistanWajid RehmanDepartment of Chemistry, Hazara University, Mansehra 21300, PakistanMuhammad WaseemDepartment of Chemistry, COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI), Islamabad 45550, Pakistan

2021en

ABI

Аннотация

The photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine 6G dye was achieved using a Ficus elastica (F. elastic) leaf extract mediated zinc oxide-zirconium dioxide nanocatalyst (ZnO-ZrO2 NC) under stimulated solar light, resulting in a substantial increase in photocatalytic activity at the highest calcination temperature. The crystal phase and crystallite size were determined using an X-ray diffractometer (XRD), and the degree of crystallinity was observed to rise with increasing calcination temperature. Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) was used to investigate the elemental composition and purity of ZnO-ZrO2 NC. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to investigate the surface morphology, and the morphological characteristics were altered when the calcination temperature was varied. For the ZnO-ZrO2 NC calcined at 100, 300, 600, and 900 °C, the average grain size determined from SEM images is 79.56 nm, 98.78 (2) nm, 54.86 (2) nm, and 67.43 (2) nm, respectively. Using diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) data, the optical band gap energy was calculated using a Tauc’s plot. The ZnO in ZnO-ZrO2 NC calcined at 100, 300, 600, and 900 °C had band gap energies of 3.31, 3.36, 3.38, and 3.29 eV. Similarly, ZrO2 in ZnO-ZrO2 NC calcined at 100, 300, 600, and 900 °C had band gap energies of 3.96, 3.99, 3.97, and 4.01 eV, respectively. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was used to identify the presence of various functional groups. The photocatalytic activity was also examined in relation to calcination temperature, pH, starting concentration, and catalyst dosage. Enhanced photocatalytic activity was observed at pH 11 and 15 ppm initial concentration with a catalyst dose of 25 mg. The photocatalytic activity of the sample calcined at 900 °C was the highest, with 98.94 percent of the dye mineralized in 330 min at a degradation rate of 0.01261/min.

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Идентификаторы

DOI: 10.3390/catal11121481

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Цитирований: 2Использованных источников: 0

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