Rice Husk for Photocatalytic Composite Material Fabrication

Abstract

As a semiconductor, zinc oxide (ZnO) has better UV absorbing properties compared to other semiconductor materials, and therefore, it has better dye degrading abilities. However, ZnO tends to agglomerate, which lead to poor degradation compared to the other semiconductors. In this study, to overcome the agglomeration of ZnO, silica (SiO 2) was combined with ZnO. The composite was tested for its photocatalytic activity. The ZnO/SiO 2 photocatalyst was fabricated on a glass plate. In order to investigate the addition of SiO 2 on ZnO, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) was used. The result of the XRD analysis demonstrates similar peak results with ZnO XRD data from ICSD 157132 with a hexagonal structure. The results indicate that the ZnO structure did not change after the addition of SiO 2 , while SEM-EDS results showed that SiO 2 was supported on ZnO with 8% composition. The optimal composition was found to be ZnO/SiO 2 95/5, as indicated by high degradation activity, which can degrade up to 89% methylene blue.

Recent Progress of Rice Husk Reinforced Polymer Composites: A Review

“…However, it tends to agglomerate, which led to poor degradation. A combination of ZnO and RH as a composite material improved photocatalytic activity under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation [ 108 , 109 ]. Furthermore, RH was also successfully synthesized as a microporous activated carbon through carbonizing and activating it with zinc chloride (ZnCl 2 ) for a lithium–sulfur battery application.…”

Recent Improvement Strategies on Metal-Organic Frameworks as Adsorbent, Catalyst, and Membrane for Wastewater Treatment

“…Various methods have been extensively employed for the POPs removal in wastewater such as flocculation/coagulation [6], adsorption [5,7], photocatalytic [8,9], Fenton-like catalysts [10,11], membrane separation [12,13], and reverse osmosis [14]. Among these methods, adsorption, catalytic degradation, and membrane separation are promising techniques for eliminating harmful pollutants from wastewater due to their low cost and simple process [13,15,16].…”

Development of SiO2/rGO from Rice Husk for Photocatalysis, Antioxidant, Electrochemical and Green Sensor Detection Studies

“…In the case of SiO2, the valence band primarily originates from Si (3d) states, while the conduction band is linked to O (1s) states. The degradation mechanism can be attributed to the interaction between dye molecules and hydroxyl radicals, which are generated through ultrasonic irradiation in the presence of SiO2/rGO nanocomposites [82][83][84]. SiO2 nanoparticles exhibited photoexcitation, which was linked to charge transfer from the Si-O bonding orbital to the 2p nonbonding orbital of nonbridging oxygen.…”