MWCNTs attached neodymium doped-ZnO photocatalysts for efficient removal of dyes from wastewater
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MWCNTs attached neodymium doped‑ZnO photocatalysts for efficient removal of dyes from wastewater William Wilson Anku1 · Eric Selorm Agorku2 · Samuel Osei‑Bonsu Oppong3 · Anthony Yaw Karikari1 Received: 7 February 2020 / Accepted: 22 April 2020 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract The present study involves the synthesis of neodymium-doped zinc oxide nanoparticles decked multiwalled carbon nanotubes (Nd-ZnO-MWCNTs) with different weight percentage compositions of Nd through the co-precipitation method. The synthesized photocatalysts were utilized in photocatalytic removal of acid blue 40 and eosin Y dye solutions via visible light irradiation. The influence of catalyst dose and dye concentrations on the degradation efficiency was also studied. The catalysts were characterized using XRD, FTIR, BET surface area analysis, UV–Vis and TEM spectroscopies. TEM revealed that the Nd-ZnO nanoparticles were well distributed on the MWCNTs surface. XRD analysis showed that the ZnO occurred in the wurtzite phase. The introduction of Nd and MWCNTs reduced the band gap of ZnO from 3.2 to 2.7 eV resulting in its enhanced visible light absorption. All the modified ZnO photocatalysts degraded the dye at higher efficiencies compared to the bare ZnO with 0.6% Nd-ZnO-MWCNTs being the most effective. The bare ZnO degraded 13% of acid blue 40 dye while 0.6% Nd-ZnO-MWCNTs exhibited 99% degradation efficiency. The synergistic effect of Nd and MWCNTs was identified to be responsible for the enhanced efficiency of the Nd-ZnO-MWCNTs photocatalysts. Keywords ZnO · Photocatalytic degradation · Dyes · Visible light irradiation · Metal doping · Multiwalled carbon nanotubes
1 Introduction The scarcity of clean and safe water is a global challenge that the world is faced with. With water being an essential commodity for all living organisms and the running of industries, we are faced with the challenge of having to provide clean water while making sure our reservoirs do not run dry [1]. Water pollution continues to be a foremost concern because efforts being put in place to provide safe water are struggling to meet the ever-increasing demand. This situation is worsened by the global climate change, continuous deterioration of water quality, and population growth [2]. Meanwhile, there continue to be enormous
volumes of wastewater pumped directly into streams, rivers, and the ocean throughout the world. The textile industry is known to contribute significantly to water pollution across the world [3] and organic dyes are major sources of environmental contaminants in water. These dyes mainly originate from textile industries during the processing of fibers and fabrics [4]. Wastewater effluents containing dyes have an intense color that requires treatment before their final discharge into the mainstream water bodies. It has been reported that textile and paper industries utilize large quantities of dyes which are known to cause serious hazards to humans and aquatic organisms [5]. When these toxic pollutants are discharged in the streams,
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