Photocatalysis of formaldehyde in the aqueous phase over ZnO/diatomitenanocomposite

Abstract

In the present study, ZnO nanostructures were synthesized and immobilized on the surface of diatomite viaa simple sonochemical method for the photocatalytic degradation of formaldehyde in the aqueous phase. The character-ization of as-prepared ZnO/diatomite nanocomposite was carried out by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM),X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The photocatalysis of formaldehyde wasfavored at neutral pH. At a ZnO to diatomite ratio of 0.3, increasing the photocatalyst dosage from 0.2 to 1.5 g/L resultedin increasing the photocatalytic removal of formaldehyde from 37.51% to 88.05%. At a formaldehyde concentration of100 mg/L, the complete removal of formaldehyde was attained within the reaction time of 50 min. A mineralizationefficiency of 53% was achieved, thereby con rming a suitable mineralization of formaldehyde within the short reactiontime of 60 min.