Synergetic photocatalytic and adsorptive removals of metanil yellow using TiO2/grass-derived cellulose/chitosan (TiO2/GC/CH) film composite

Chitosan (CH) and cellulose are the most abundant biopolymer which can be utilized for hazardous dye removal. By incorporating TiO2 onto cellulose/CH matrix, our research aims to achieved higher metanil yellow removal by means of synergetic adsorption/photodegradation mechanisms. The cellulose particles were extracted from wild grass (Imperata cylindrica L.) to obtain grass-derived cellulose (GC). Simple blending method was used to prepare TiO2/GC/CH, in which the composition was determined by simple additive weighting method (SAW). TiO2/GC/CH was characterized by means of tensile strength test (also used for SAW), Fourier Transform-Infrared (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Metanil yellow removal using TiO2/GC/CH work the best at acidic pH range. The removal follows the pseudo-second-order kinetic (R2 = 0.99699) and Langmuir isotherm (R2 = 0.99786) modellings. Higher qm obtained from the metanil yellow removal under UV irradiation (qm = 171.5266) proves the synergism between adsorption and photodegradation.