Photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange using Cerium doped zinc oxide nanoparticles supported bentonite clay

Methyl orange (MO) is a common anionic azo dye that serious harmful pollutant to the environmental aquatic systems, so it must be treated before can discharged. Photocatalysts are usually semiconducting solid oxides create an electron-hole pair by absorbing photons. These electron holes react with molecules on surface of particles. used in water purification, self-cleaning glasses, decomposition organic molecules, etc. cleaning materials remove pollution from surfaces and destroy compounds when exposed sunlight or fluorescence. The photocatalytic process follows following principles. Bentonite mineral natural adsorbent material has good adsorption capacity. In this work, zinc oxide nanoparticles doped cerium were prepared sol-gel method (SGM) deposited bentonite clay degrade MO dye. Important parameters affected degradation efficiency such as contact time, amount nanocatalyst, initial concentration investigated optimized. Results showed 100% was obtained at 60 mg nanocatalyst 50 L-1 methyl 120 minutes. Kinetics consistent pseudo-second-order isotherm fitted Langmuir model.