Sol-gel derived Zr2ZnC photocatalyst: a novel ternary carbide approach for visible-light-driven degradation of organic pollutants

Abstract

The Zr2ZnC was synthesized via sol-gel methodology and used to study sunlight driven degradation of organic pollutant, Rhodamine B (RhB). The Zr2ZnC was characterized by FTIR, XRD, and SEM/EDX techniques. The Zr2ZnC revealed high degradation efficiency i.e. ~92% dye concentration (50 ppm), catalyst loading (25mg), pH (5), and oxidant dose (15 mM) within 90 minutes. Different scavengers were used to validate the active radical species and observed that OH• contributed the most. The kinetic study revealed that degradation followed first-order kinetics model. The optimization study was conducted through response surface methodology (RSM). Ternary carbides can be used as highperforming photocatalysts.