Degradation of methyl orange through synergistic effect of zirconia nanotubes and ultrasonic wave

Zirconia nanotubes with a length of 25 μm, inner diameter of 80 nm, and wall thickness of 35 nm were prepared by anodization method in mixture of formamide and glycerol (volume ratio = 1:1) containing 1 wt% NH4F and 1 wt% H2O. Experiments showed that zirconia nanotubes and ultrasonic wave had synergistic degradation effect for methyl orange and the efficiency of ultrasonic wave increased by more than 7 times. The decolorization percentage was influenced by pH value of the solution. Methyl orange was easy to be degraded in acidic solution. The decolorization percentage of methyl orange reached 97.6% when degraded for 8 h in 20 mg/L methyl orange solution with optimal pH value 2. The reason of synergistic degradation effect for methyl orange might be that adsorption of methyl orange onto zirconia nanotubes resulted in the easy degradation of the methyl orange through ultrasonic wave.