Photocatalytic Degradation of Congo Red and Crystal Violet Dyes on Cellulose/ PVC/ZnO Composites under UV Light Irradiation

UV light assisted photo degradation of congo red and crystal violet dyes over Cellulose/PVC/ZnO nano composites has been observed. Solution cast method was adopted for the synthesis of Cellulose/ PVC/ZnO thin film. UV-Vis diffused reflectance spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy were employed to investigate the optical property and morphology of Cellulose/ PVC/ZnO composites. Congo red and crystal violet dyes were used as the model dyes in the degradation studies. Nearly 90% of the dyes were degraded after a very short irradiation time. The photocatalytic activity of the Cellulose/ PVC/ZnO composite was found to be better than that of the PVC/ZnO composite. The photocatalytic activity is found to be dependent on the concentration of the loaded photocatalyst.