Photocatalytic dilapidation of organic pollutant SRB in water by mesoporous In 2 S 3

Abstract

Sulforhodamine B (C27H30N2O7S2) (SRB) is an amino-xanthene class, fluorescent dye, commonly used for in-vitro cytotoxicity monitoring and for the detection of drug-target interaction especially in the case of anti-cancer drugs. It does not degrade under normal conditions and remains in water as such. In accordance with the principles of green chemistry we have synthesized nano-structured Indium sulphide which demonstrates efficacy in photocatalytic degradation of this organic pollutant. The reusability of the photo catalyst was tested and it was found to degrade exponentially with recycling. The optimum SRB dye load on the photo catalyst was identified to be 0.28 M/gm for which a decay rate constant of ~ 4.58 x 10− 3 min− 1 was obtained. Beyond a critical SRB dye load, the photo catalysis involved direct rupture of the chromophore without an initial N-demethylation step.