title: Sonocatalytic degradation of a textile dye over Gd-doped ZnO nanoparticles synthesized through sonochemical process.
abstract: The present study was performed to sonochemically synthesize GdxZn₁-xO (x=0-0.1) nanoparticles for sonocatalysis of Acid Orange 7 (AO7) in an aqueous medium. The results of X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis confirmed proper synthesis of Gd-doped sonocatalyst. 5% Gd-doped ZnO nanoparticles with band gap of 2.8 eV exhibited the highest sonocatalytic decolorization efficiency of 90% at reaction time of 90 min. The effects of initial dye concentration and sonocatalyst dosage on decolorization efficiency were evaluated. In the presence of sodium sulfate, sodium carbonate and sodium chloride the decolorization efficiency decreased from 90 to 78, 65 and 56%, respectively. Among various enhancers, the addition of potassium periodate improved the decolorization efficiency from 90 to 100%. The highest decolorization efficiency was obtained at pH value of 6.34 (90%). The decolorization efficiency decreased only 6% after 4 repeated runs. Therefore, Gd-doped ZnO nanoparticles can be used as a promising catalyst for degradation of organic pollutants with great reusability potential.
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory of Advanced Water and Wastewater Treatment Processes, Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran. Electronic address: a_khataee@tabrizu.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khataee
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran.
authors.forename: Reza Darvishi Cheshmeh
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Soltani
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory of Advanced Water and Wastewater Treatment Processes, Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Atefeh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Karimi
authors.affiliation: School of Mechanical Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan 712-749, South Korea. Electronic address: swjoo@yu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Sang Woo
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Joo
keywords: Acid Orange 7; Doped ZnO; Nano-sonocatalyst; Nanocatalyst; Sonocatalysis