Synthesis of Mixed-Phase TiO-ZrO Nanocomposite for Photocatalytic Wastewater Treatment.

The use of TiO nanoparticles for photocatalysis for the degradation of organic dyes under UV light for wastewater treatment has been widely studied. However, the photocatalytic characteristics of TiO nanoparticles are inadequate due to their UV light response and higher band gap. In this work, three nanoparticles were synthesized: (i) TiO nanoparticle was synthesized by a sol-gel process. (ii) ZrO was prepared using a solution combustion process and (iii) mixed-phase TiO-ZrO nanoparticles were synthesized by a sol-gel process to remove Eosin Yellow (EY) from aqueous solutions in the wastewater. XRD, FTIR, UV-VIS, TEM, and XPS analysis methods were used to examine the properties of the synthesized products. The XRD investigation supported the tetragonal and monoclinic crystal structures of the TiO and ZrO nanoparticles. TEM studies identified that mixed-phase TiO-ZrO nanoparticles have the same tetragonal structure as pure mixed-phase. The degradation of Eosin Yellow (EY) was examined using TiO, ZrO, and mixed-phase TiO-ZrO nanoparticles under visible light. The results confirmed that the mixed-phase TiO-ZrOnanoparticles show a higher level of photocatalytic activity, and the process is accomplished at a high degradation rate in lesser time and at a lower power intensity.