Photocatalytic degradation of 2, 4, 6-Ttrichlorophenol with CdS nanoparticles synthesis by microwave-assisted sol-gel method

This paper reports the synthesis and characterization of photocatalyst CdS nanoparticles for investigation of photocatalytic degradation of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol. CdS nanoparticles were synthesized by the microwave-assisted sol-gel method and characterized by various techniques such as X-ray diffraction, filed emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and UV-visible spectrophotometer. The average crystallite size was found to be 46 nm. The influences of catalyst amount, contaminant concentration, and pH of the reaction solution were evaluated and optimized. Highest degradation was obtained after 3hours UV-C light irradiation. The kinetic was evaluated in different contaminant concentrations under optimized conditions. It showed that the 2,4,6-trichlorophenol degradation reactions follow pseudo first order kinetic.