Photocatalytic activity of graphite-Fe-Ti alloy for the removal of dye pollutant: Synthesis, characterization and optimization studies

This research investigates the photocatalytic activity of mechanically alloyed graphite-iron- titanium powder for the removal of Eriochrome Black-T dye pollution. The structural and optical properties of the alloys are evaluated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray energy diffraction spectroscopy (EDX), and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis). X-ray diffraction measurements show that after 35 hours of milling time, the intensity of the element’s peaks decreases, along with the increase of peaks width. The average iron crystallite size is estimated to be approximately 50.8 nanometers. The morphology of the alloyed powders shows that the particles are flattened and plate-like in shape, which is suitable for absorption and photocatalytic activities. Fifteen photocatalytic experiments are designed to remove dye pollution; the optimal dye removal’s parameters for pH, lamp power, and alloy dosage (g/L) are obtained using the combination of artificial neural network, and genetic algorithm (ANN-GA). With optimal conditions, the maximum removal rate is determined to about 86.4%.