Reaction Temperature Effect on Pullulan Mediated Zinc Oxide Synthesis and Its Photocatalytic Activity
Abstract
Eleen Dayana Mohamed Isa
Textiles industries is one of the most important industries towards mankind as they provide the source of clothing for people. To make clothing more interesting, the fabrics were made to be colourful using dyes. However, due to this, the discharge from textile industries into the natural streams or bodies of water contained non-degradable organic dyes. With the growing concern towards the environment, there are need for cost effective solution in removal of dyes from the water. One of the ways is through employment of heterogeneous advanced oxidation processes where it involves the use of semiconductor as catalyst for photocatalytic degradation of dyes. Zinc oxide emerge as a promising material for this process and it is an environmentally friendly materials and relatively cheap compared to titania. In this study, zinc oxide is produced through precipitation method and mediated by a polysaccharide, pullulan. The effect of reaction temperature on the properties on zinc oxide produced was investigated. The zinc oxide obtained were characterized through XRD, FESEM, UV-Vis reflectance, FTIR and surface area and pore analysis. The synthesize zinc oxide was then subjected to photocatalytic activity for degradation of Methyl Orange.
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