An Experimental Study of Photocatalytic Degradation of Congo Red Using Polymer Nanocomposite Films

Abstract

Eco-friendly polymer nanocomposite films were synthesized using biodegradable polymers of chitosan and polyvinyl alcohol as polymeric matrices and carbon black nanoparticles as the reinforcement. These films were applied to study their applicability to industrial wastewater purification as a photocatalyst for degradation of Congo red as a target pollutant and to study the effect of the polymeric matrix types of the films on their performance as a semiconductor photocatalyst. Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to characterize the films. Visible light photocatalytic degradation of Congo red as a pollutant under various operational conditions of pH, dye concentration, contact time, and light intensity was performed. Photocatalytic results revealed that the polymeric substrate type does not play a major role in the photodegradation of the dye, and the best operational conditions were at a pH of 6 and a dye solution concentration of 8 mg/L.