scholarly journals Experimental and Physico-Chemical Comparison of ZnO Nanoparticles’ Activity for Photocatalytic Applications in Wastewater Treatment

Catalysts ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 678
Author(s):  
Stefano Alberti ◽  
Irene Basciu ◽  
Marco Vocciante ◽  
Maurizio Ferretti

In this contribution, the photoactivity upon activation by simulated sunlight of zinc oxide (ZnO) obtained from two different synthetic pathways (Acetate and Nitrate) is investigated for water purification. Different reagents and processes were exploited to obtain ZnO nanoparticles. Products have been characterized by means of X-Ray Diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy along with Energy Dispersive Spectrometer, Dynamic Light Scattering, and Diffuse Reflectance Measurements, to highlight the different outcomes ascribable to each synthesis. A comparison of characteristics and performances was also carried out with respect to commercial ZnO. Nanoparticles of this semiconductor can be obtained as aggregates with different degrees of purity, porosity, and shape, and their physical-chemical properties have been addressed to the specific use in wastewater treatment, testing their effectiveness on the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) as a model pollutant. Excluding the commercial sample, experimental results evidenced a better photocatalytic behavior for the ZnO Nitrate sample annealed at 500 °C, which was found to be pure and stable in water, suggesting that ZnO could be effectively exploited as a heterogeneous photocatalyst for the degradation of emerging pollutants in water, provided that thermal treatment is included in the synthetic process.

2013 ◽  
Vol 832 ◽  
pp. 589-595 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.A. Edama ◽  
A. Sulaiman ◽  
K.H. Ku Hamid ◽  
M.N. Muhd Rodhi ◽  
Mohibah Musa ◽  
...  

This study analyzed the effects of sulphuric acid (H2SO4) treatment on pysico-chemical properties and morphological changes of clay obtained from Sg. Sayong, Perak. The clay was ground and sieved to <150μm and treated with different concentrations of H2SO4. The treatment was completed by refluxing the clay with different concentration of H2SO4 (1M, 5M and 10M ) at 100 °C for 4 hours and followed by calcination at 500 °C for 1 hour. The physic-chemical properties and morphological changes of the untreated and treated clay were compared using Surface Area Analyser, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Micrograph (FESEM), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The results showed that acid treatment of 5M increased the surface area from 25 m2/g to 75 m2/g and the pore volume increased from 0.1518 cc/g to 0.3546 cc/g. The nanopore size of the clay decreased from 24.8 nm to 19.4 nm after treated with acid. This can be explained due to the elimination of the exchangeable cations and generation of microporosity. The results of XRF showed SiO2 increased from 58.34% to 74.52% and Al2O3 reduced from 34.6% to 18.31%. The mineral oxides such as Fe2O3, MgO, CaO, K2O and TiO2 also reduced. This concluded that H2SO4 treatment has led to significant removal of octahedral Al3+, Fe3+ cations and other impurities. In conclusion, this study showed the physico-chemical properties and morphology of Sayong clay were improved once treated with H2SO4 and therefore suggests better supporting material for enzyme immobilization.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 445-449

Abstract: Spinel ferrites with general formula AB2O4 possess charming magnetic and electrical properties owing to their thermal and chemical steadfastness. Spinel zinc ferrite (ZnFe2O4) nanoparticles have attracted massive attention due to their unusual amalgamation of properties, especially magnetic properties, where these properties are equipped as suitable candidates in the field of electronics. Here, a simple self-combustion technique is made with the assistance of albumen to synthesize nanocrystalline zinc ferrite (ZnFe2O4) particles. The egg white (albumen) that is used in the synthesis process plays the fuel role in the process of combustion. The results of the powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) suggested that the synthesized nanoparticles are of single phase and show spinel structure. The photoluminescence studies reported a doublet peak at around 360-380 nm. The functional groups present in the synthesized nanoparticles were revealed from FTIR data. EDX findings give an account of the percentage composition of the elements Fe, Zn and O present in the synthesized sample. High-resolution Scanning Microscope (HRSEM) reveals the agglomerated coalescence nature of ferrite nanoparticles. Keywords: Ferrite, PXRD, FTIR, HRSEM, EDX Albumen.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 181823 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guangyu Shi ◽  
Yizhu Qian ◽  
Fengzhi Tan ◽  
Weijie Cai ◽  
Yuan Li ◽  
...  

Oil/water separation is a field of high significance as it might efficiently resolve the contamination of industrial oily wastewater and other oil/water pollution. In this paper, an environmentally-friendly hydrophobic aerogel with high porosity and low density was successfully synthesized with renewable pomelo peels (PPs) as precursors. Typically, a series of sponge aerogels (HPSA-0, HPSA-1 and HPSA-2) were facilely prepared via high-speed dispersion, freeze-drying and silanization with methyltrimethoxysilane. Indeed, the physical properties of aerogel such as density and pore diameter could be tailored by different additives (filter paper fibre and polyvinyl alcohol). Hence, their physico-chemical properties including internal morphology and chemical structure were characterized in detail by Fourier transform infrared, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, Thermal gravimetric analyzer (TG) etc. Moreover, the adsorption capacity was further determined and the results revealed that the PP-based aerogels presented excellent adsorption performance for a wide range of oil products and/or organic solvents (crude oil 49.8 g g −1 , soya bean oil 62.3 g g −1 , chloroform 71.3 g g −1 etc.). The corresponding cyclic tests showed the absorption capacity decreased slightly from 94.66% to 93.82% after 10 consecutive cycles, indicating a high recyclability.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (13) ◽  
pp. 2598 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Hernández-Rodríguez ◽  
R. Santana Rodríguez ◽  
R. Darias ◽  
O. González Díaz ◽  
J. M. Pérez Luzardo ◽  
...  

In this study, mortar specimens were prepared with a cement:sand:water ratio of 1:3:0.5, in accordance with standard EN196-1. Portland CEM I 52.5 R grey (G) and white (W) cements were used, together with normalised sand and distilled water. Different amounts of TiO2 photocatalyst were incorporated in the preparation of the mortar samples. The effect of the addition of TiO2 was studied on mechanical properties of the mortar and cement including compressive and flexural strength, consistency (the flow table test), setting time and carbonation. Characterization techniques, including thermogravimetry, mercury porosimetry and X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), were applied to study the physico-chemical properties of the mortars. It was shown that adding the photocatalyst to the mortar had no negative effect on its properties and could be used to accelerate the setting process. Specimen photoactivity with the incorporated photocatalyst was tested for NOx oxidation in different conditions of humidity (0% RH and 65% RH) and illumination (Vis or Vis/UV), with the results showing an important activity even under Vis radiation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amar Nath ◽  
P. P. Pande

Now-a-days synthetic polyelectrolytes are frequently used by the industries in the treatment of industrial effluents. Such materials have a variety of properties such as easily changeable structure as per the specific requirement, higher purity, highstability and have more efficiency than the natural polymers. These polymers do not add any solid residue in the sludge, exhibit no change in the physico-chemical properties of the treated water and therefore this water may be recycled. Polyacrylamide is a synthetic polyelectrolyte which is hydrophilic in nature and insoluble in organic solvents. It has very high affinity towards the suspended particles present in water. Therefore, polyacrylamide based polymers are highly effective for the flocculation of suspended contaminated particle present in the effluents. Polyacrylamide is very important polymer for wastewater treatment which enhances the flocculation potential by modification of its nature into non-ionic, anionic and cationic forms.


2011 ◽  
Vol 236-238 ◽  
pp. 538-542
Author(s):  
Yong Jun Liu

The deactivation behavior of industrial hydrodemetallization catalysts was investigated in the presented work. The main objective of the study is to contribute to a better understanding of the nature of the coke and metal deposition on the used catalysts by applying chemical analysis and various advanced analytical techniques, such as X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and solid-state carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (13C NMR). The results are discussed scientifically based on the physico–chemical properties of origin and used catalysts.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 1971-1982 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marwa Akkari ◽  
Pilar Aranda ◽  
Abdessalem Ben Haj Amara ◽  
Eduardo Ruiz-Hitzky

In this study, ZnO/SiO2-clay heterostructures were successfully synthesized by a facile two-step process applied to two types of clays: montmorillonite layered silicate and sepiolite microfibrous clay mineral. In the first step, intermediate silica–organoclay hybrid heterostructures were prepared following a colloidal route based on the controlled hydrolysis of tetramethoxysilane in the presence of the starting organoclay. Later on, pre-formed ZnO nanoparticles (NP) dispersed in 2-propanol were incorporated under ultrasound irradiation to the silica–organoclay hybrid heterostructures dispersed in 2-propanol, and finally, the resulting solids were calcinated to eliminate the organic matter and to produce ZnO nanoparticles (NP) homogeneously assembled to the clay–SiO2 framework. In the case of montmorillonite the resulting materials were identified as delaminated clays of ZnO/SiO2-clay composition, whereas for sepiolite, the resulting heterostructure is constituted by the assembling of ZnO NP to the sepiolite–silica substrate only affecting the external surface of the clay. The structural and morphological features of the prepared heterostructures were characterized by diverse physico-chemical techniques (such as XRD, FTIR, TEM, FE-SEM). The efficiency of these new porous ZnO/SiO2-clay heterostructures as potential photocatalysts in the degradation of organic dyes and the removal of pharmaceutical drugs in water solution was tested using methylene blue and ibuprofen compounds, respectively, as model of pollutants.


2020 ◽  
pp. 13-21
Author(s):  
Le Huy Tran ◽  
Thi Ngoc Mai Tran ◽  
Tuan Vu Anh ◽  
Pham Quoc Khanh ◽  
Thi Minh Thu Nguyen ◽  
...  

Dichromate anions were intercalated between two consecutive hydroxide layers of [Mg0.6Al0.4(OH)2]0.40+ via co-precipitation at different pH conditions. The physico-chemical properties of the obtained solids were examined by physical methods such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Infrared (IR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and Energy-Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS). The experimental results indicated that the amount of dichromate anions in the catalysts varies with the pH media. Also, the morphology, structure and chemical composition of the materials depends strongly on the preparation conditions. The Mg-Al-Cr2O7 hydrotalcite-like compounds are used as heterogeneous catalysts for the styrene oxidation with H2O2 at mild conditions. The styrene conversion is about 20-50% while styrene selectivity remains rather high.


Author(s):  
S. Lesz ◽  
T. Tański ◽  
B. Hrapkowicz ◽  
M. Karolus ◽  
J. Popis ◽  
...  

Purpose: This paper explains mechanical synthesis which uses powders or material chunks in order to obtain phases and alloys. It is based on an example of magnesium powders with various additives, such as zinc, calcium and yttrium. Design/methodology/approach: The following experimental techniques were used: X-ray diffraction (XRD) method, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), determining particle size distributions with laser measuring, Vickers microhardness. Findings: The particle-size of a powder and microhardness value depend on the milling time. Research limitations/implications: Magnesium gained its largest application area by creating alloys in combination with other elements. Magnesium alloys used in various industry contain various elements e.g. rare-earth elements (REE). Magnesium alloys are generally made by casting processes. Consequently, the search for new methods of obtaining materials such as mechanical alloying (MA) offers new opportunities. The MA allows for the production of materials with completely new physico-chemical properties. Originality/value: Thanks to powder engineering it is possible to manufacture materials with specific chemical composition. These materials are characterized by very high purity, specified porosity, fine-grain structure, complicated designs. These are impossible to obtain with traditional methods. Moreover it is possible to refine the process even further minimalizing the need for finishing or machining, making the material losses very small or negligible. Furthermore material manufactured in such a way can be thermally or chemically processed without any problems.


TAPPI Journal ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (01) ◽  
pp. 21-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xueqing Qiu ◽  
Yingzhi Ma ◽  
Dafeng Zheng

A magnetic lignin-based nanomaterial (MLN) was prepared from alkaline lignin through an amination and precipitation strategy and characterized with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), thermogravimetric analysis (TG), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method, scanning electron microscope (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The results illustrated that MLN was thermostable and had an extensive degree of aminated lignin coating. The specific surface area of MLN was 65.43 m2/g, with the total pore volume of 0.311 cm3/g. The zeta potential of MLN was positive when pH was less than 2.9, and the saturation magnetization was 50.8 emu/g. The characterization data discovered that the physico-chemical properties of MLN were helpful for the adsorption application.


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