title: [Study on photocatalytic decomposition of azo-dyes by ZnO/carbon nanotubes composites by UV-Vis spectroscopy].
abstract: ZnO/carbon nanotubes composites were prepared by hydrothermal treatment of the mixture of zinc nitrate and acid-treated multiwalled carbon nanotubes and characterized by transmission electron microscope (TEM) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). The TEM image indicated that ZnO nanoparticles with a diameter about 28 nm covered the carbon nanotubes. The XRD pattern shows that ZnO nanoparticles attached to the MWNTs exhibit a hexagonal phase. The diffraction peaks can be assigned to (100), (002), (101), (102), (110), (103), (200), (112) and (201) planes of the crystalline ZnO, respectively. The average size of the crystalline ZnO, calculated from the half-width of the (100) diffraction peak by the Scherrer equation, is 27.8 nm, which accords with the TEM observation. The ZnO/carbon nanotubes composites were used as a photocatalyst under sunlight for the decomposition of azo-dye, which was studied by UV-Vis spectroscopy. The effects of the illumination time, catalyst amount, initial dye concentration and the different structures of the dye on the photocatalytic process were investigated. It was noted that the intensity of the absorption peak corresponding to the azo-dye decreased rapidly at 400 nm during the photolysis process and the decomposition of azo-dye was a quasi-first order reaction. The decomposition rates for azo-dyes such as acid orange, Acid bright red, Acid light yellow are 0.09, 0.28 and 0.22 mg x L(-1) x min(-1), respectively, which maybe resulted from their different functional groups. It can be stated that the complete removal of color, after selection of optimum operation parameters, can be achieved in relatively short time by using ZnO/carbon nanotubes composites. After recycling 5 times, the catalyst still has more than 50% efficiency.
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Anhui Key Laboratory of Functional Molecular Solids, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu 241000, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Xiao-jie
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Xian-wen
authors.initials: XW
authors.lastname: Wei