Synthesis, characterizations and photocatalytic activity of sulphur doped zno and its composite with graphene oxide for dye degradation
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Date
2018
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UMT, Lhr
Abstract
Environmental pollut¬ants such as organic dyes are of major focal areas of current era because of their numerous health hazards to living organism. Consequently, excellent photocatalytic substances are the need of time to degrade such water bodies and get pollution free water. Transition metal oxides are of great interest in this regard being economical, highly reactive and eco-friendly. In the present study, sulphur doped zinc oxide nanoparticles are prepared by using ecofriendly solution free method and graphene oxide is synthesized by modified Hummer’s method. Sulphur doped zinc oxide nanoparticles are combined with graphene oxide in the weight percent of 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10% to obtain a range of various composites. The photocatalytic composites are characterized by using the techniques namely; TEM, SEM, EDXS, FTIR, and UV-Vis spectrophotometry to find out their chemical nature and morphological features. Photocatalytic activity of the composites is determined by using the methylene blue as a standard pollutant. The newly formed composite (S-doped zinc oxide composite with 10 % graphene oxide) showed up to 90% enhanced photocatalytic activity than that of individual nanoparticles and graphene oxide. Effect of concentration of dopant in composite, initial concentration of methylene blue, photocatalyst loading, initial pH of the suspension and the irradiation time for dye degradation have also been investigated in detail.