- Title
- Synthesis and application of coal fly ash supported C doped TiO2/SnO2 photocatalyst in water treatment
- Creator
- Sambakanya, Siyasanga
- Subject
- Photocatalysis
- Date Issued
- 2020
- Date
- 2020
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- MSc (Chemistry)
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10353/18838
- Identifier
- vital:42869
- Description
- Coal fly ash supported carbon doped titanium dioxide/tin oxide (C doped TiO2-SnO2/CFA) nanoparticles were successfully synthesised using a sol gel method and calcined at 550 °C. The crystal structure, optical properties, morphology and other properties were analysed using XRD, UV-Vis, FTIR, TEM, SEM, DRS and EDX. SEM analysis showed that the nanoparticles (NPs) of C doped TiO2-SnO2/CFA were quasi spherical. XRD showed that C doped TiO2-SnO2/CFA nanoparticles were polycrystalline and consisted of both rutile and anatase phases. TEM analysis also displayed small NPs of C-TiO2-SnO2/CFA (12.62 nm) than TiO2 (16.19 nm) and SnO2 (19.98 nm). DRS revealed reduced band gap of C-TiO2 (2.78 eV) than TiO2 (3.19 eV) after doping. The photocatalytic efficiency of the prepared C-TiO2-SnO2/CFA nanoparticles was determined using methyl orange (MO) and methylene blue dye (MB) as standard dyes in the photodegradation as well as lead and mercury in the photoreduction of lead and mercury ions in water. The degradation experiments were carried under natural solar irradiation and UV light. The photodegradation experiments carried under visible light showed excellent photodegradation of MO & MB in water. This is a good indication that doping was successful as it imparted visible light activity in the C-TiO2-SnO2/CFA NPs. The photocatalyst efficiency was further tested while varying parameters including photocatalyst load, pH, and initial pollutant concentration in the photodegradation of MO & MB as well as in photoreduction of Pb2+ and Hg2+ in water to establish optimum operating conditions. The degradation rate of MO & MB increased when photocatalyst loading increased. When the pH was increased, the photocatalytic efficiency of the prepared photocatalyst towards methyl orange was reduced; however methylene blue degradation increased with increase in pH. The reduction of Pb2+ also increased with increasing pH whereas that of Hg2+ increased with decreasing pH. It was found that photodegradation was directly proportional to and photoreduction was inversely proportional to initial pollutant concentration.
- Format
- 119 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- University of Fort Hare
- Publisher
- Faculty of Science and Agriculture
- Language
- English
- Rights
- University of Fort Hare
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UFH Department of Chemistry
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Sambakanya Siyasanga FINAL Dissertation 11 Dec 2020.pdf | 2 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |