Enhancement of photocatalytic activity of Ba doped CoO for degradation of Emamectin Benzoate in aqueous solution

Abstract

Abstract The present study was focused on the preparation of cobalt oxide (CoO) and barium doped cobalt oxide (Ba doped CoO) by following co-precipitation method for the degradation of Emamectin benzoate pesticide in aqueous medium. The prepared catalysts were characterized using SEM, EDX and XRD to confirm the formation of catalysts and to observe the variation in the composition of catalysts during degradation study. The degradation of Emamectin benzoate pesticide was studied under the influence of different factors like solution pH, dose of catalyst, contact time, temperature and initial concentration of pesticide. It was observed that solution pH affects the degradation of pesticide and maximum degradation was found at pH 5 and 6 using CoO and Ba doped CoO respectively. The degradation of pesticide was found to be increases continuously with time of contact and decreases with increase in temperature. Likewise, at the beginning, degradation was observed to be increases up to some extent with dose of catalyst and initial concentration of pesticide but started decreases with further augmentation in the dose of catalyst and initial concentration of pesticide. It may be concluded from this study that doping of Ba considerably enhanced the photocatalytic ability CoO for Emamectin benzoate pesticide.