Vol.7, Issue 7, July 2020

Photocatalytic Degradation of Acid Orange II Dye on Selected Commercial Titanium Dioxide Catalysts

John Onam Onyatta.*, Patrick K. Tum, Frederick D.O Oduor, Joyce G. N. Kithure

Department of Chemistry, School of Physical Sciences, University of Nairobi, P.O Box 30197-00100 Nairobi, Kenya.

Abstract: Photocatalytic degradation of acid orange II dye in the presence of UV light was investigated using selected commercial TiO₂ as photocatalysts. The objective of this study was to determine the rate of photodegradation of the model dye using selected commercial TiO₂. The types of TiO₂ used as photocatalysts in this study were P25 (Degussa), AV01 (Precheza) and S7001 (Euro support). The oxides were immobilized on microscopic glass slides measuring 75mm x 25mm to form a uniform layer of area 8.75 cm².  A four-hole position photoreactor and a UV panel reactor were used in batch mode during photocatalytic degradation. Source of UV light were fluorescent tubes that emitted light at 320-400 nm with a maximum wavelength being at 355 nm. A UV/Vis spectrophotometer (model Cecil 2020) was used to monitor the changes in dye concentrations. Changes in concentration during irradiation was used to determine the rate of photocatalytic degradation of the dye. The efficiency of the three dioxides in photodegradation of the acid orange II dye was compared and the study revealed that AV01 was the most efficient commercial TiO₂ as a photocatalyst followed by P25 and S7001 was the least.

Keywords: photocatalyst, photocatalytic degradation, acid orange II dye.

Pages: 76 – 88 | Full PDF Paper