Photocatalytic Degradation of Alizarin Red S by Using a Layered Zn/Al-NO3 Double Hydroxides

1Amina Muhammad Bello, 2Abubakar H. Mijinyawa, 1Abdulfatah S. Muhammad

1Department of Pure and Industrial Chemistry, Bayero University Kano, P. M. B. 3011, Kano, Nigeria
2Department of Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Sciences & Computing, Capital City University, Dawaki Road, P. M. B. 3409, Kano, Nigeria

*Corresponding author: asmuhammed.chm@buk.edu.ng, doi.org/10.55639/607.2131


ABSTRACT

This research presents the use of layered Zn-Al-NO3 layered double hydroxides (LDH) which photocatalytically degraded
Alizarin Red S (ARS) under a UV source. The prepared
photocatalytic material was characterized by employing the use
of X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis, Scanning Electron
Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), Fourier
Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and Band gap Energy
using Tauc plot. The analyzed XRD patterns of Zn-Al-NO3
show characterized diffraction angles typical of LDH. Also, the
XRD patterns were used to calculate the apparent crystallite size
(32.5 nm). The bandgap energy of the LDH was determined to
be 3.2 eV. The effect of the initial concentration of the ARS
dye, catalyst amount or dose and pH were also determined. The
Zn-Al-NO3 efficiently degraded ARS at (69.91%), which could
be attributed to its smaller crystallite size. The kinetic study
(reaction rate and half-life) of the photodegradation appeared to
be R
2 = 0.9886 and (t1/2) = 76.7 min, the data fit the Langmuir
Hinshelwood expression, which follows the pseudo-first-order
kinetic model.

Keywords:

Alizarin red S,
Degradation,
Layered-double
hydroxides,
Photocatalysis
wastewater treatment