Investigating the Photocatalytic Degradation of Amaranth Dye in Water Environment using Visible Light‐Activated Fe‐Doped ZnO Nanoparticles

Abstract

These days, the removal of dissolved organics from industrial waste water is a foremost challenge to scientific community to attain the conservation of the aqueous ecosystem. The present work emphasises on the photocatalytic degradation of industrial dye viz. amaranth using Fe doped ZnO (Fe‐ZnO) nanoparticles. The formation of Wurtzite phase bare ZnO and Fe‐ZnO materials fabricated by solvothermal route was confirmed by XRD and FTIR spectroscopy, whereas the SEM morphological investigations revealed the formation of coral like to granular particles. The band gap energies of the synthesized materials were observed to be shifted to the blue region on gradual Fe doping, indicating the suitability of the material for photocatalysis. The photocatalytic activity of the as‐synthesized ZnO and Fe‐ZnO materials was evaluated under sunlight and mercury lamp light, wherein the 6% Fe‐ZnO material showed more than 98% degradation of amaranth dye within 80 minutes in sunlight. The kinetic studies showed pseudo‐first‐order degradation reaction with a rate constant of 0.0114 min‐1 in sunlight. The effects of catalyst loading, light source and stability of the photocatalyst was also explored along with a proposed photogenerated free radical based dye degradation mechanism.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.