TY - JOUR ID - 14791 TI - Neodymium Doped ZrO2-graphene Oxide Nanocomposites: A Promising Photocatalyst For Photodegradation Of Eosin Y Dye JO - Advanced Materials Letters JA - AML LA - en SN - 0976-3961 AU - Mzoughi, M. AU - W. Anku, William. AU - O. B. Oppong, Samuel AU - K. Shukla, Sudheesh AU - S. Agorku, Eric AU - P. Govender, Penny AD - Y1 - 2016 PY - 2016 VL - 7 IS - 12 SP - 946 EP - 950 KW - photocatalysis KW - Polymer KW - metal nanocomposites KW - Graphene Oxide KW - eosin Y KW - dye degradation KW - photodegradation DO - 10.5185/amlett.2016.6497 N2 - Purification of industrial wastewater from dyes receiving increasing attentions. The aim of the present manuscript was to fabricate graphene based nanocomposites using a homogeneous and facile approach. Co-precipitation method was used to synthesize zirconium oxide (ZrO2) and neodymium doped ZrO2-graphene oxide (Nd-ZrO2-GO) nanocomposites with varying weight percent concentrations of neodymium to investigate the increasing photocatalytic activity. The Nd-ZrO2-GO catalysts were characterized using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (SEM), and ultra violet-visible (UV-vis)-spectroscopy to evaluate their optical, morphological and structural properties respectively. The photocatalytic degradation potential of the nanocatalyst was assessed by the degradation of Eosin Y dye in aqueous solution under simulated solar light irradiation. The Nd-ZrO2-GO was observed to have higher photocatalytic degradation potential than the bare ZrO2. The most efficient photocatalyst for the degradation of Eosin Y dye was 0.3 % Nd-ZrO2-GO with about 80 % efficiency within 180 min and a Ka value of 4.19 x 10 -3 . Nd-ZrO2-GO catalyst would be considered as efficient photocatalyst to degrade the industrial dyes (Eosin Y) avoiding the dreary filtration steps. UR - https://aml.iaamonline.org/article_14791.html L1 - https://aml.iaamonline.org/article_14791_cccc67ab5c8b2de92a4ade908eadf751.pdf ER -