Siavash Fathi; Bagher Aslibeiki; Reza Torkamani
Abstract
In the recent decades, increasing of pollutant in water resources endanger the human life and other living things. Researchers have applied different methods to eliminate the water contaminants. Photocatalytic is one of these methods that have been used widely for wastewater treatment. In this study, ...
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In the recent decades, increasing of pollutant in water resources endanger the human life and other living things. Researchers have applied different methods to eliminate the water contaminants. Photocatalytic is one of these methods that have been used widely for wastewater treatment. In this study, a series of Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, and Cu doped ZnO nanorods were applied as visible-light-activated catalysts for oxytetracycline (OTC) degradation. Characterization of the nanorods was performed using XRD, FE-SEM, UV-Vis, and PL techniques. The results show that photocatalytic activity of the samples highly depends on morphology, size and band gap energy. The UV–Vis spectroscopy indicate that Fe doping has reduced the band gap energy to 2.91 eV. The variation of band gap permits absorption of low energy photons and excitation of valence band electrons. The photoluminescence spectra reveal that doping has an effective role in inhibiting the recombination of electron/hole pairs during photocatalytic process. The Mn-doped sample exhibits significantly increased photocatalytic activity and greater degradation rate constant (k) in comparison with the pure ZnO.
D Kamarajan; Benny Anburaj; V Porkalai; A Muthuvel; G Nedunchezhian; N Mahendran
Abstract
The current study aimed to synthesize nanoparticles of Zinc oxide (ZnO) using the extract of Acalypha indica leaves and their photocatalyst degradation and antibacterial properties were also measured. The biosynthesized nanoparticles were analyzed using XRD, UV-visible, FT-IR, and SEM with EDAX, DLS, ...
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The current study aimed to synthesize nanoparticles of Zinc oxide (ZnO) using the extract of Acalypha indica leaves and their photocatalyst degradation and antibacterial properties were also measured. The biosynthesized nanoparticles were analyzed using XRD, UV-visible, FT-IR, and SEM with EDAX, DLS, PL, and Zeta potential analysis. The synthesized nanoparticles had a mean size of 16 nm measured by XRD which was highly pure, and their spherical shape was confirmed by SEM. The UV-visible confirmed that ZnO nanoparticles have a direct band gap energy is 3.34 eV. The measured zeta size and potential of synthesized nanoparticles were 46 nm and -27 mV, respectively, determined by the DLS technique can be considered moderately stable colloidal solutions. The FT-IR analysis confirmed the presence of functional groups in the leaf extract and the ZnO nanoparticles. The biosynthesized ZnO nanoparticles have a homogeneous spherical morphology and the average particle is 35 nm. The PL analyses performed on synthesized nanoparticles showed a sharp blue band at 362 nm, which was attributed to the defects of structure in ZnO crystals. During natural sunlight illumination, ZnO nanoparticles demonstrated notable degradation of the dye methyl blue (MB). At 90 min of illumination, the degradation efficiency achieved was 96 %. Antibacterial properties were observed for synthesized nanoparticles against four bacterial strains, including Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Escherichia coli. The highest zone of inhibition was observed against Escherichia coli (25.2 mm). Overall, these studies indicate that Acalypha indica is a good sell for planting, and has the greatest chance of being used to develop nanoparticles for protection against environmental pollution and human health.