Comparison of Photocatalytic Activity of Synthesized and Commercial ZnO Nanoparticles in Dye Removal in Aqueous Environment

The aim of this investigation was to synthesize ZnO nanoparticles and compare their photocatalytic activity with its commercial form in terms of photocatalytic oxidation of methylene blue dye in aqueous environment.
In this study, ZnO nanoparticles were prepared using hydrogen peroxide treatment and were immobilized on glass surface using thermal immobilization. The prepared glasses were placed inside the reactor. Finally, the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue in the reactor was investigated using different parameters.
Findings: The results of the study showed that the photocatalytic process with the synthesized catalyst (96.35%) had higher efficiency compared to the commercial catalyst (82.87%) in terms of degradation of 5 mg/l methylene blue within 120 minutes. Subsequently, using the synthesized catalyst, at distances of 2, 3.5, and 5 cm between the UV lamps and glass plates containing immobilized ZnO nanoparticles, the dye removal rates were 96.35%, 63.34%, and 45.31%, respectively.
According to the findings, it can be concluded that synthesized ZnO nanoparticles can be applied as an efficient catalyst in photocatalytic processes.