Visible Light Driven Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Pollutant: Cleaning the Environment by Novel ZrCdPbO4

Abstract

Heterogeneous photocatalysis is found an effective technique for degradation of organic pollutants in wastewater breaking them into smaller fragment of molecules that can easily be biodegraded further. Present work comprises of photocatalytic degradation of Crystal Violet dye (CV) which is found more resistant and more stable and so generates toxicity in the environment. A novel quaternary metal oxide is synthesized for this purpose and is characterized by various analytical techniques. XRD is carried out to obtain the crystal structure, EDX is carried to know about the elements present in the material, XPS is carried to know the oxidation states of the elements, FE-SEM is done for getting the crystal arrangements and morphology of the material. Combined results of these analyses suggest the formula of prepared material to be ZrCdPbO4. Further UV-Vis analysis is used to calculate the band gap which comes out to be 5eV. This material is then used as photocatalyst for degradation of CV in heterogeneous conditions. A kinetic study is carried and it is observed that the reaction follows pseudo first order rate law. Optical density is recorded and different factors are varied to obtain optimum conditions for maximum degradation.