Nanocomposite prepared from ZnS nanoparticles and molecular sieves nanoparticles by ion exchange method: Characterization and its photocatalytic activity

In this article, we have reported synthesis of ZnS/MCM-41 nanocomposite and its photocatalytic activity. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated using basic blue 9 or methylene blue (MB) as model pollutant under UV light irradiation. The catalyst is characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV–vis diffused reflectance spectra (UV–vis DRS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. The effect of ZnS, MCM-41 support and different wt% of ZnS over the support on the photocatalytic degradation and influence of parameters such as ZnS loading, catalyst a mount, pH and initial concentration of dye on degradation are evaluated. The degradation reaction follows pseudo-first order kinetics. The effect of dosage of photocatalyst was studied in the range 0.02–5 g/L. It was seen that 0.4 g/L of photocatalyst is an optimum value for the dosage of photocatalyst. The degradation efficiency was decreased in dye concentration above 3.2 ppm for dye. In the best conditions, the degradation efficiency was obtained 0.32 ppm for methylene blue.

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► Synthesis ZnS/MCM-41 nanocomposite by ion exchange method.
► Degradation of MB by photocatalyst.
► The kinetics of photocatalytic degradation is of the pseudo-first order.