The application of nanoparticles in dye degradation is one of the trending arenas of research in the present day world. In this work, we report a novel route to synthesise MgO/TiO2 metal oxide nanocomposite by microemulsion technique and its application in photocatalytic dye degradation. Oil in water microemulsion was prepared using Span 80 and Tween 80 as surfactants whose proportion was regulated using hydrophilic and lipophilic Balance (HLB). The obtained microemulsion was then mechanically stirred and calcined to obtain the nanocomposite. The as-prepared nanocomposites were characterized using X Ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The prepared nanoparticles exhibited remarkable potential to degrade azo dye (Methyl red) under UV-Visible light irradiation. The effect of catalyst in the degradation was studied for different concentrations of dye (20, 40, 60, 80, 100 mg/L) and different loadings of the catalyst (0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.2 g/L) so as to determine the optimum catalyst load. The consistency of the obtained data was compared with the first order reaction rate expression. Quasi steady state model was used in fitting the data and the kinetic constants were evaluated. Also, the degradation efficiency of MgO/TiO2 nanocomposite was compared with the degradation efficiency of TiO2 nanoparticles synthesized by microemulsion method.
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