Gelatin mesoporous silica SBA-15 (GSBA-15) with rod-like morphology has been successfully synthesized by hydrothermal method using P-123:gelatin, then aged at 90 °C for 24 h and calcined at 550 °C for 5 h. GSBA-15 was impregnated with ZnO amounts of 1; 5; and 10 wt% to obtain Zn/GSBA-15. Samples were characterized by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infra Red (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET). The efficiency of methylene blue photodegradation was determined by a UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The FTIR result is functional groups of ZnO/GSBA-15, those were Si−O−Si, −OH, Zn−OH, and Zn−O. The morphology of ZnO/GSBA-15 was rod-like, and it consisted of silica, oxygen, and Zn. The surface area and pore volume of GSBA-15 declined (surface area from 520.8 to 351.9 m2/g and pore volume from 0.707 to 0.564 cm3/g) after ZnO impregnation due to pore blocking. At the same time, increasing pore diameter (from 2.82 nm to 3.19 nm) and crystallite size (from 5.1 nm to 12.6 nm) were observed due to the overlapping of ZnO-Silica particles. The increasing incorporation of ZnO on the silica GSBA-15 framework increases the photodegradation performance from 88.76% to 94.90% due to the high surface area, functional group rich, and dispersion of ZnO active sites. Copyright © 2022 by Authors, Published by BCREC Group. This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).

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<p>Heavy metal wastes cause water pollution. One of them is very toxic arsenic heavy metal waste; thus, treating them before they are released freely into the waters is necessary. In this case, the manufacture of carbon nanofibers (CNF) from sugar palm fiber waste is an innovation that can produce adsorbents to remediate heavy metals, thereby increasing the use value of sugar palm fiber waste. Carbon nanofiber from palm fiber (<em>Arenga pinnata</em>) was modified with ZnO metal, with varying concentrations of 0.1%, 1%, and 10%, in 1 gram of carbon nanofiber. Carbon nanofibers were made by carbonizing sugar palm fibers at 300^oC for two hours. Furthermore, wet impregnation was carried out with Zn(CH₃COO)₂.2H₂O and ended with calcination at 250^oC for an hour, resulting in black nanofiber powder. This research was conducted to determine the effect of ZnO concentration on the characteristics of the carbon nanofiber produced and its effectiveness in remediating heavy metal arsenic. The ZnO/carbon nanofiber adsorbent material was then characterized using FTIR, XRD, and SEM analyses. Determination of the absorption of ZnO/carbon nanofibers on heavy metal arsenic was also assessed employing AAS analysis.</p>