Synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic activity of active carbon/ZnO nanocomposites using solar light

Abstract

We present a series of visible light responsive active carbon/ZnO (xAC/ZnO) nanocomposite photocatalysts prepared by simple sol-gel method. The successfully synthesized samples were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM),X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS), Brunauer Emmett Teller method (BET),UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and Photoluminescence (PL).The XRD pattern of prepared photocatalysts assigned the hexagonal wurtzite structure for ZnO. UV-DRS study confirmed the shift in spectral response more towards visible region after formation of nanocomposite photocatalyst. Fluorescence study revealed the increased e/h pair separation in xAC/ZnO photocatalysts as compared to pure ZnO. The dye degradation rate of prepared samples was studied by methyl orange dye under solar light irradiation. The xAC/ZnO nanocomposite shows