Affiliation:
1. M.Kumarasamy College of Engineering
Abstract
Abstract
Technological development and Environmental Sustainability are mutually exclusive terms before the Nanotechnology era. With the advent of a diverse variety of nano-materials and composites, an eco-friendly technological development is made possible. One such application is the use of nano-composites in removing pollutants from industrial effluents. Rose Bengal (RB) is an organic dye that belongs to Xanthenes. RB is used extensively in textile, for printing and dying. It also finds an application as insecticide. A particular stain of RB is used in ophthalmology. Also about 20% of the dyes are lost in dyeing, and 19% of the dye is discharged to the environment which in turn pollutes it. Hence it becomes important to treat the effluents before they are discharged or dumped in the environment. Knowing the importance of removing harmful particles from the effluent, present research work synthesizes rGO/CuTiO2 nanocomposite in such a way to improve the photocatalytic dye degradation properties. Standard Hummers method is used for the preparation of Graphene Oxide and hydro-thermal method is adapted for the synthesis of rGO/CuTiO2 nanocomposite. The nano composites so prepared were characterized by UV, FT-IR, XRD, SEM with EDAX and TEM analysis. The structural analysis of monoclinic CuTiO2 composites shows that as the grain size and calcination temperature affects the photocatalytic degradation efficiency. The Degradation efficiency of various nanocomposites say GO, CuTiO2 and rGO/CuTiO2 were evaluated against Rose Bengal dye and it is found that the photocatalytic degradation efficiency is optimum for a RB concentration of 2.28 × 10–5 M, pH of RB = 9.0, and a nanocomposite used is = 0.20 g. It is found that rGO/CuTiO2 nanocomposites calcination temperature at 450oC exhibit superior photocatalystic behavior against Rose Bengal dye (k = 0.0228min-1) under visible light irradiation.
Publisher
Research Square Platform LLC