EFFICIENT SOLAR PHOTOCATALYST BASED ON TIO2/CORN SILK NPS COMPOSITE FOR REMOVAL OF A TEXTILE AZO-DYE FROM AQUEOUS SOLUTION

Background: The results of investigations on a new advanced oxidation process regarding a new embedded heterogeneous photocatalyst on corn silk/titanium dioxide nanoparticules composite are presented. Methods: UV-VIS-spectroscopy, Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform IR spectrometry (FT-IR), and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) were applied to characterize the effect of functionalization, structure, surface morphology and optical properties of composites and mineralization of pollutants. Results: The present work confirmed the role of corn silk/titanium dioxide NPs as a factor which not only activated the catalyst with UV light but also raised the adsorption of species by increasing the active surface area. A small UV-shift of band gap values regarding that of commercial photo-active TiO2 was detected as consequence of the quantum size effect, suggesting that photocatalytic experiments should be performed under UV-radiation assistance. Conclusion: The synthesized corn silk/titanium dioxide (TiO2)NPs showed good activity in the photocatalytic oxidation of Direct blue 15 (DB 15) achieving conversions higher than 90% within 30 s.