Preparation of visible-light driven photocatalyst for degradation of water pollutants

Abstract

In this work, A novel visible light-driven photocatalyst with p-n heterojunction was successfully prepared. n-type ZnO nanoparticles were loaded on SiO2 support via sol-gel method, followed by deposition of p-type Ag2CO3 with different compositions. The prepared photocatalysts showed an excellent photocatalytic activity in degradation of Rhodamine B and Indigo carmine dyes as organic pollutant models. Also, the prepared samples were studied by different techniques to investigate their structure, morphology and optical properties. Kinetic studies of the photodegradation of Rhodamine B dye were investigated. The different parameters which were affecting the photodegradation of the dyes such as pH, catalyst dose and initial concentration of the dyes were investigated. The reaction mechanism of the photodegradation of RhB dye was suggested through trapping reactions. Key words: Visible- light driven, p-n heterojunction ,Rhodamine B dye , trapping reactions.