Ag–Co oxides nanoparticles supported on carbon nanotubes as an effective catalyst for the photodegradation of Congo red dye in aqueous medium
Noor Zada, Idrees Khan, Tariq Shah, Tamanna Gul, Nasib Khan, Khalid Saeed
Abstract
Multiwalled carbon nanotubes supported Ag–Co oxides (A-MWNTs/Ag–Co) and unsupported Ag–Co bimetallic oxides (Ag–Co) nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared by chemical reduction method. The A-MWCNTs/Ag–Co and Ag–Co NPs are characterized by various instrumental techniques like scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-rays (EDX) and X-rays diffraction (XRD). While the photodegradation study of Congo red was carried out by UV/Vis spectrophotometer. The A-MWCNTs/Ag–Co and Ag–Co NPs were used as photocatalyst for the photodegradation of Congo red dye as a function of irradiation time. The fresh A-MWCNTs/Ag–Co degraded about 90.37% dye while the recovered photocatalyst degraded 64.01% within 75 min. Similarly the original Ag–Co NPs degraded about 88.09% within 75 min while the recovered Ag–Co NPs degraded about 59.65% within the same irradiation time. The effect of photocatalyst dosage, initial dye concentration and pH of the medium was also evaluated.