TITLE:
Photocatalytic Degradation of Rhodamine B Dye in Wastewater Using Gelatin/CuS/PVA Nanocomposites under Solar Light Irradiation
AUTHORS:
Abdullah A. Al-Kahtani
KEYWORDS:
Rhodamine B, Degradation, Photocatalysis, CuS Nanocomposite, Gamma Ray
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Biomaterials and Nanobiotechnology,
Vol.8 No.1,
January
17,
2017
ABSTRACT: The crosslinked gelatin/CuS/PVA nanocomposite
catalyst prepared using gamma irradiation as initiator was extensively
characterized using several techniques including transmission electron
microscopy (TEM), UV-Vis spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy (IR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). We chose Rhodamine B (RhB) dye as a model contaminant
in order to investigate its Photocatalytic activity under solar light
irradiation. The effects of pH, catalyst concentration and RhB concentration on
degradation reaction were also investigated. Similar to the observed trend for
the photocatalytic oxidation of other organic compounds, the efficiency of
photocatalytic degradation of RhB tended to decrease with increasing the
concentration of RhB. The degradation efficiency of RhB is found to increase as
pH is increased up to pH of 10, then starts decreasing
at pH values higher than 10. The degradation efficient of RhB is found
to increase as the amount of the catalyst dosage increases up to an optimum
value of 0.25 g. Increasing the concentrations of photocatalyst beyond 0.25 g was
found to decrease the photocatalytic activity of RhB. It was proven that the degradation process of RhB reaction rate obeyed a
pseudo-first-order reaction of the catalyst concentration of gelatin/CuS/PVA
nanocomposite. The degradation kinetics was found to fit well Langmuir-Hinshelwood
rate law. The results obtained showed that after using the catalyst five times
repeatedly, the catalyst retained its
efficiency and the rate of the degradation process was still above 80%.