Surface adsorption of lead ions and degradation of an organic dye with a nano photocatalyst synthesized via a simple hydrothermal method

In this work, Cd2+ was doped into ZnO crystal lattice via a hydrothermal method. The effect of different parameters on the product size and morphologies were studied such as reaction time and temperature, surfactant and cadmium source value. The results showed each parameter has a significant effect on the product size and morphology. The optical properties of the products were studied and the results showed different factors such as particle size and cadmium source value can change the ZnO band gap. The photocatalytic activity of the product was studied by decomposition of methyl orange as dye and the results showed the product decomposed dye molecules structure stronger than bare ZnO nanostructures. Also, the surface activity of the synthesized nanostructures was examined by removing Pb2+ from the water and the results showed that the product can remove Pb2+ more than 44% from the water. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and ultra violet-visible (UV-Vis) spectra.