REMOVAL OF METHYLENE BLUE BY ZrO2/GO DOPED Eu3+ NANOHYBRID MATERIALS
Abstract
In this publication, we continue to study the optical properties of the Eu3+ doped ZrO2/GO nanohybrids (0-2 mol%, ZrGOEu) by hydrothermal method and use it to removal of methylene blue (MB) in water. Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy shows that the ZrGOEu nanohybrid absorb energy in the visible region with bandgap energies of about 2.375 eV – 2.750 eV. Methylene blue is well adsorbed by ZrGOEu nanohybrid with efficiency of 45.606% – 54.248%. The adsorption kinetics model was evaluated according to Lagergren's linear first-order and second-order kinetics, showing that the second-order linear kinetics model is a better fit, with the correlation coefficient R2 ≈ 1. The efficiency removal for MB the whole process reached the highest 94.481%. Especially, the ZrGOEu hybrid nanocomposites have excellent photocatalytic ability, the decomposition efficiency for MB reached 88.606% when illuminated by xenon lamp in 180 minutes, according to the first order decomposition kinetic model. With good characteristic properties, there is potential to use ZrGOEu nano-hybrids in the treatment of organic dyes and heavy metal ions in water.