An efficient photo-degradation of hazardous dye using AOP assisted metal oxide supported CNT coated cotton material under UV light irradiation

Abstract

The Advanced Oxidation Process (AOP) assisted photo-degradation process was developed for the removal of methylene blue (MB) dye using CeO₂@TiO₂–SiO₂ supported carbon nano tube coated cotton (CNT/Cotton) material under UV light irradiation in the presence of H₂O₂. The photo-catalytic cotton material was synthesized using precipitation, followed by dip coating method. The extensive characterization techniques such as FTIR, XRD, FE-SEM, EDX, and UV-DRS analysis were investigated for the prepared photo-active material. The obtained findings clearly demonstrated that the chosen metal oxide and CNT were successfully combined on the surface of cotton material. The fabricated UV-light driven material consisting of Ce@Ti–Si/CNT/Cotton was utilized to degrade MB dye molecules serving as a model and remarkable photo-catalytic efficiency of 99 % was achieved for MB dye within 90 min under UV-light irradiation. The dye degradation was measured using a UV–Visible (UV–Vis) spectrophotometer for determination of process efficiency. This present investigation paves huge scale improvement of photo-catalytic degradation of composite materials (Ce@Ti–Si/CNT) with cotton fabric. Interestingly, the photo-catalytic degradation efficiency of MB remained at around 80 % even after five cycles. Therefore, the recycle stability of prepared Ce@Ti–Si/CNT/Cotton was found to be satisfactory. This photo-catalytic material could be useful for the degradation of textile effluent of dye molecules in the presence of UV light.