No abstract

Organic dyes used to shade numerous materials on an industrial level causes water pollution. To meet the need for the removal of the dye-laden water the mechanistic methodology is developed in which catalyst (ZnO), oxidizer (H2O2), and irradiation of low dose (4 KGy) are involved. Oxidizers and catalysts are characterized for surface morphology by SEM, functional groups by FTIR, crystallinity by XRD, particle size by PSA, and for elemental ratio by EDX. A solution ranging from 2 ppm to 8 ppm of Congo red (CR) dye, ZnO (100 μg) as a catalyst, H2O2 (100 μL), as an oxidizer, and 4 KGy energy radiations were used during the degradation analysis for 30, 60, 90, and 120 min. The enhanced effect is shown by using the oxidizer, catalyst, and irradiation at a time. Moreover, it shows a degradation of 99 % for 2 ppm and 4 ppm within 60 min while 6 ppm almost 99 % within 90 min, and 8 ppm almost 96.76 % within 120 min. The established mechanistic methodology can also be applied to actual aqueous industrial samples.

At present times electromagnetic (EM) pollution is increasing due to a lot of progress and achievements in the electronics field. There is a dire need to develop materials that have greater EM energy absorption/emission properties. We report here the synthesis of a nanocomposite of carbonaceous material, reduced graphene oxide (rGO) with Chloroprene (CP) grafted polymethyl methacrylate (CP-g-pMMA), i.e. rGO/CP-g-pMMA. FTIR confirms the grafting of Chloroprene rubber and the presence of rGO. XRD shows the crystallinity of rGO alone and in the composites as well. SEM images showed smooth texture for neat polymer while nanocomposite showed a leafy appearance of the reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The viscosity of pure CP was 3740 cps while CP-g-pMMA was 1644 cps. A slight decrease was observed after the addition of rGO. Enhancement in thermal properties from 264 °C to 269 °C showed that the composites were thermally more stable than the virgin CP and CP-g-pMMA. The permittivity and alternating current conductivity were checked by Radio Frequency (RF) impedance and material analyzer in the range of (1–1000 MHz) X-band and (1–3 GHz) S-band. The nanocomposites showed the lowest percolation (0.32 vol. %) yet reported. The nanocomposites showed low real and absolute permittivity. The electrical and permittivity analysis of the rGO/CP-g-pMMA nanocomposites revealed that they can be potential candidates for their applications in electronic devices as an absorber.

The release of unsafe color dyes into various industrial effluents can harm the environment and human health and therefore needs remediation. The current research assesses the environmental friendly photo-less catalytic performance of zinc oxide/reduced graphene oxide (ZnO/RGO) nanocomposites, prepared via green synthetic route, for the degradation, and decontamination of methylene blue (MB) dye from industrial aqueous effluents and compared with that of zinc oxide (ZnO), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and reduced graphene oxide (RGO). The materials were characterized for surface morphology, functional groups, and crystallinity by using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, respectively, showing that ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) were well-formed on the RGO surface and were having uniform pore sizes and large surface area. The degradation pattern of MB from its 40, 60, 80, and 100 ppm solutions by employing the degradation materials were examined using UV–Visible spectral analysis. The pH before and after the degradation of the MB in all the sample solutions was noted and found to change slightly after the degradation of MB. The results demonstrate that the ZnO/RGO nanocomposites display a better catalytic degradation efficiency (99.57%) as compared to the other degradation materials with the order of efficiency as ZnO/RGO > RGO > H2O2 > ZnO which shows that the degradation efficiency of ZnO (∼14%) can be significantly improved while fabricating its nanocomposite with RGO (99.57%). These findings can be utilized on a large-scale decontamination of dyes from industrial wastes without the involvement of light i.e., photo-less degradation.