Influence of operational parameters on photomineralization of Evans blue by Ag-TiO2 composite

Abstract

Study Ag-TiO₂ composite has been synthesized by photodeposition method. The prepared composite has been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). The effect of Ag deposition on TiO₂ has been tested for photocatalytic degradation of azo dye, Evans Blue (EB). The comparison of different advanced oxidation processes (AOP) such as (i) Only Ag-TiO₂(ii) only UV (iii) UV + TiO₂ (iv) UV + Ag-TiO₂ (v) UV + Ag-TiO₂ +H₂O₂ have been carried out for the photocatalytic degradation of EB. In addition, different operational parameters like initial concentration of EB and composite dose have also been studied on photocatalytic degradation of EB. The degradation is found to increase in the order only Ag-TiO₂ < Only UV < UV + TiO₂ < UV + Ag-TiO₂ < UV + Ag-TiO₂ + H₂O₂ for EB.