Semiconductor Supported Gold Nanoparticles for Photodegradation of Rhodamine B

Authors: Ahmad Alshammari, Abdulaziz Bagabas

Abstract:

Rhodamine B (RB) is a toxic dye used extensively in textile industry, which must be remediated before its drainage to environment. In the present study, supported gold nanoparticles on commercially available titania and zincite were successfully prepared and then their activity on the photodegradation of RB under UV A light irradiation were evaluated. The synthesized photocatalysts were characterized by ICP, BET, XRD, and TEM. Kinetic results showed that Au/TiO2 was an inferior photocatalyst to Au/ZnO. This observation could be attributed to the strong reflection of UV irradiation by gold nanoparticles over TiO2 support.

Keywords: Supported AuNPs, Semiconductor photocatalyst, Photodegradation, Rhodamine B.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1337893

References:

[1] S. Ahmed, M. G. Rasul, R. Brown, M. A. Hashib, “Influence of parameters on the heterogeneous photocatalytic degradation of pesticides and phenolic contaminants in wastewater: A short review” J. of Environm. Managem. vol. 92, pp. 311–330.
[2] R. Lilja, S. Liukkonen, “Industrial hazardous wastes in Finland – trends related to the waste prevention goal”J. Clean. Prod. vol. 16, pp. 343–349. 2008.
[3] N. M. Mahmoodi, M. Armani, N. Y. Lymaee, K. Gharanjig, K., “Photocatalytic degradation of agricultural N-heterocyclic organic pollutants using immobilized nanoparticles of titania” J. Hazard. Mater. vol. 145, pp. 65–71. 2007. 2001.
[4] C. Visvanathan, C., T. Asano, “The potential for industrial wastewater reuse, in: Vigneswaran S. (Ed.), Wastewater Recycle, Reuse, and Reclamation, EOLSS, e-book, 2009, pp. 299–317.
[5] A. Bagabas, M. Gondal, A. Dastageer, Z. Yamani, M.Ashameri, “Laser-induced photocatalytic inactivation of coliform bacteria from water using pd-loaded nano-WO3”. Stud. in Surf. Sci. and Catal., vol. 175, pp. 279–282. 2010.
[6] K. Reddy, S.Manorama, A. Redd, “Band gap studies on anatase titanium dioxide nanoparticles” Mater. Chem. Phys. vol. 78, pp. 239–45, 2002.
[7] K. Rajeshwar, J. G. Ibanez, G. M. Swain, “Electrochemistry and the environment” J. Appl. Electrochem. vol. 24, pp. 1077–1091. 1994.
[8] H. Yu, H. Ming, J. Gong, H. Li, H. Huang, K. Pan, Y. Liu, Z. Kang, J. Wei, D. Wang, D., “Facile synthesis of Au/ZnO nanoparticles and their enhanced photocatalytic activity for hydroxylation of benzene” Bull. Mater. Sci. vol. 36, pp. 367–372, 2013.
[9] A. Alshammari, A.Koeckritz, V. N. Kalevaru, A. Bagabas, A., Martin, “Significant formation of adipic acid by direct oxidation of cyclohexane using supported nano-gold catalysts”. ChemCatChemvol. 4, pp. 1330–1336, 2012.
[10] E. Ozbay, “Plasmonics: Merging photonics and electronics at nanoscale dimensions”. Science vol. 331, pp. 189–193. 2006.