ZnO/VNC Material for UV-Photodegradation of Methylene Blue

ZnO materials act as a Photocatalytic reaction and it leads to partial or complete mineralization or decolorization of organic pollutants. Upon irradiation with UV/visible light, semiconductors catalyze undergoes redox reactions in presence of air/O2 and water. In the present study Zinc oxide (ZnO) was doped with activated carbon prepared from the stem of the plant material by chemical activation namely, Vitexnegundo stem carbon (VNC). The decolourisation and degradation study of a dye namely, methylene blue (MB) was carried out to find out the efficiency of catalytic property of ZnO/VNC. The reaction was performed at 20, 40, 60 ppm of dye solution with ZnO/VNC material at 10 min interval of time. It found that the prepared ZnO / VNC composite exhibits an enhanced Photocatalytic activity for MB degradation under visible light irradiation and its photo catalysis efficiency was analyzed in specific 663 nm λ max using a UV–vis-spectrophotometer. The surface morphology and functional group present in the ZnO / VNC material was characterized by using FT-IR, SEM and XRD. The result reveals that the ZnO/VNC structure consists of irregular aggregates with rough surfaces and high photodegradation activities of ZnO/VNC on MB solutions are found to be at 20ppm. The ZnO/VNC may be used as an alternative adsorbent to remove MB from aqueous solutions.Keywords: Methylene blue (MB), ZnO / VNC, FT-IR, SEM, XRD