Synthesis and characterization of the ZnO-supported on clinoptilolite as a nanophotocatalyst and malachite green dye photodegradation

In this investigation, a novel type of zinc oxide supported on clinoptilolite zeolite ZnO /Clinoptilolite (ZnO/CP) nanophotocatalyst was prepared based on the solid-state dispersion (SSD) method. The prepared nanophotocatalyst was characterized with XRD and SEM techniques. As an application, the photocatalytic degradation of malachite green dye in water under UV irradiation was studied. The results show that the ZnO /CP is an active photocatalyst and the maximum effect of photodegradation was observed at 10 wt.% ZnO, 90 wt% Clinoptilolite. A first-order reaction with K = 0.0075 min-1 was concluded. The effects of some parameters such as pH, amount of photocatalyst, and temperature were also examined. Finally, a mechanism was introduced for MG photodegradation.