Preparation and performance of TiO2-ZnO/CNT hetero-nanostructures applied to photodegradation of organic dye

Abstract

Water pollution by organic compounds is one of the major challenges faced by industries that use dyeing processes. Thus, some methods were developed for degrading dyes in wastewaters, including heterogeneous photocatalysis by semiconductor oxides. However, these oxides have limited photocatalytic activity due to the fast recombination of photogenerated electron–hole pairs. The aim of this study is the use of a carbon nanotube (CNT) and TiO2-ZnO oxide junction from modified sol-gel method to promote the degradation of organic dye through the photocatalytic activity of these nanocomposites. TiO2-ZnO/CNT nanocomposites were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and photocatalytic decomposition of organic dyes. The results of photocatalysis show up to 60% the efficiency of the samples in the removal of dye.