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In-Situ Hydrothermal Fabrication of ZnO-Loaded GAC Nanocomposite for Efficient Rhodamine B Dye Removal via Synergistic Photocatalytic and Adsorptive Performance
Version 1
: Received: 19 June 2024 / Approved: 19 June 2024 / Online: 19 June 2024 (14:14:18 CEST)
How to cite:
Obayomi, K. S.; Lau, S. Y.; Xie, Z.; Gray, S. R.; Zhang, J. In-Situ Hydrothermal Fabrication of ZnO-Loaded GAC Nanocomposite for Efficient Rhodamine B Dye Removal via Synergistic Photocatalytic and Adsorptive Performance. Preprints2024, 2024061355. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202406.1355.v1
Obayomi, K. S.; Lau, S. Y.; Xie, Z.; Gray, S. R.; Zhang, J. In-Situ Hydrothermal Fabrication of ZnO-Loaded GAC Nanocomposite for Efficient Rhodamine B Dye Removal via Synergistic Photocatalytic and Adsorptive Performance. Preprints 2024, 2024061355. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202406.1355.v1
Obayomi, K. S.; Lau, S. Y.; Xie, Z.; Gray, S. R.; Zhang, J. In-Situ Hydrothermal Fabrication of ZnO-Loaded GAC Nanocomposite for Efficient Rhodamine B Dye Removal via Synergistic Photocatalytic and Adsorptive Performance. Preprints2024, 2024061355. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202406.1355.v1
APA Style
Obayomi, K. S., Lau, S. Y., Xie, Z., Gray, S. R., & Zhang, J. (2024). In-Situ Hydrothermal Fabrication of ZnO-Loaded GAC Nanocomposite for Efficient Rhodamine B Dye Removal via Synergistic Photocatalytic and Adsorptive Performance. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202406.1355.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Obayomi, K. S., Stephen R Gray and Jianhua Zhang. 2024 "In-Situ Hydrothermal Fabrication of ZnO-Loaded GAC Nanocomposite for Efficient Rhodamine B Dye Removal via Synergistic Photocatalytic and Adsorptive Performance" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202406.1355.v1
Abstract
In this work, zinc oxide (ZnO)/ granular activated carbon (GAC) composites at different ZnO concentration (0.25M-ZnO@GAC, 0.5M-ZnO@GAC, and 0.75M-ZnO@GAC) were prepared by an in-situ hydrothermal method and demonstrated synergistic photocatalytic degradation and ad-sorption of Rhodamine B (RhB). The thermal stability, morphological structure, elemental com-position, crystallographic structure, and textural properties of developed catalysts were charac-terized by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA/DTG), scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy dispersive-x-ray (SEM-EDS), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis. Successful loading of ZnO onto GAC was confirmed by SEM-EDS and XRD analysis. The BET surface areas of GAC, 0.25M-ZnO@GAC, 0.5M-ZnO@GAC, and 0.75M-ZnO@GAC were 474 m2/g, 450 m2/g, 453 m2/g, and 421 m2/g, respectively. The decrease in GAC could be attributed to the successful loading of ZnO on the GAC surface. Notably, 0.5M-ZnO@GAC exhibited the best photocatalytic degradation efficiency of 82% and 97% under UV-A and UV-C light over 120 min, attributed to improved crystallinity and visible light absorption. The photocatalytic degradation parameters revealed that lowering the RhB concentration, raising the catalyst dosage and pH be-yond the point of zero charge (PZC) would favor the RhB degradation. Photocatalytic reusability was demonstrated over 5 cycles. Scavenger tests revealed that the hydroxyl radicals (•OH), su-peroxide radicals (O2−•), and photoinduced hole (h+) radicals play a major role during the RhB degradation process. Based on the TOC results, the RhB mineralization efficiency of 79.1% was achieved by 0.5M-ZnO@GAC. Additionally, GAC exhibited a strong adsorptive performance towards RhB with adsorption capacity and RhB removal of 487.1 mg/g and 99.5% achieved within 90 min equilibrium time. The adsorption characteristics were best described by pseu-do-second-order kinetics, suggesting chemical adsorption. This research offers a new strategy for the development of effective photocatalyst materials with potential for wider wastewater treat-ment applications.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
