Photocatalytic degradation of Victoria blue B a cationic dye by synthesised zinc oxide nanoparticle

Abstract

Synthesis of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles through solution combustion method using fuel urea helped us to synthesis a simple photocatalysts, which were then characterised by UV-absorption spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area determination, scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDAX) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results suggested that, the band gap was found to be 2.94 eV, average particles size was found to be 27 nm and size less than 60 nm confirmed by TEM. The photodegradation of zinc oxide nanoparticle was successfully examined against the Victoria blue B dye under the solar and visible light. From the experimental results the photocatalytic degradation was achieved 97.30% for solar light and 93.45% for visible light degradation at pH 6.