Synthesis Of Titanium Dioxide /Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanocomposite Using Peel Extracts Of Citrus Aurantium And Musa Acuminata For Photocatalytic Degradation Of Methylene Blue From Wastewater

Abstract

In this research, titanium dioxide and surface modified TiO2 with reduced graphene oxide (TiO2/rGO) nanocomposite were synthesized. TiO2 nanoparticle was synthesized by sol-gel method from titanium tetra butoxide precursor and steam extracts of orange (citrus aurantium) and banana (musa acuminata) peels which were used as reducing, capping and stabilizing agents. GO was synthesized by Tour method using graphite powder with addition of KMnO4 and H2O2 strong oxidizing agents in the presence of concentrated H2SO4 and H3PO4. The surface modified TiO2/rGO was synthesized from green synthesized TiO2 and GO by addition of citrus aurantium and musa acuminate extracts by coprecipitation method. The synthesized Titanium dioxide/ reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite and Titanium dioxide were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) for functional groups analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for morphological studies, UV-Vis spectroscopy for optical properties study and X-ray powder(XRD) for the crystal structures analysis. The photocatalytic degradation performances of MB from synthetic waste water were investigated by using TiO2 and TiO2/rGO for both extracts. When we compare degradation efficiency of TiO2 and TiO2/rGO, TiO2/rGO (94.28%) nanocomposite was 1.62 times more efficient than TiO2 (58.2%) nanoparticles within 60 minutes in the presence of halogen lamp. A Photocatalytic activity of TiO2/rGO nanocomposite was studied at different conditions like catalytic doze, initial concentration of pollutant, pH and reaction time effects. Catalytic dosage, pH and reaction time have positive effect, but initial concentration of pollutant has negative effect on photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue from synthetic waste water.