Enhanced Photocatalytic Degradation of Thymol Blue and Rhodamine B Using Calcinated ZnFe2O4

Abstract

Water pollution cause by synthetic dyes released from industrial effluents remains a significant environmental challenge .among various remediation strategies ,photo catalytic  degradation  has emerged as an effective  and environmentally  friendly technique due to its cost  efficiency  and minimal generation of toxic byproduct. In this study a zinc ferrite based nanophotocatalyst  was synthesized via a co- precipitation  method followed by calcinations and employed for the visible –light  driven degradation of two model dyes Thymol blue (TB) and Rhodamine B (RB).the prepared ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles were characterized using SEM, EDX analysis.the point of zero charge (PZC)of the catalyst was also determined. Various opretional parameter including PH, contact time, initial dye concentration, catalyst doseage and temperature were optimized to evaluate their effect on photocatalytic  efficiency. The degradation kinetics followed a pseudo-second order model with high correlation coefficient (R>0.99) indicating multiple cycles and performed effectively in real water samples. These result confirm that ZnFe2O4 is a promising reusable photo catalyst for the sustainable treatment of dye  contaminated wastewater .

Keywords:  SEM,EDX, Thymol Blue, Rhodamine, Co Precipitation