Sonoprecipitation dispersion of ZnO nanoparticles over graphene oxide used in photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue in aqueous solution: Influence of irradiation time and power

In this paper, ZnO/Graphene Oxide (ZnO/GO) is synthesized via ultrasound assisted precipitation method and the effect of power and ultrasound time irradiation is studied on photocatalyst properties. The synthesized samples are used for methylene blue (MB) degradation as an organic water pollutant. Physicochemical properties of the samples are investigated by XRD, FESEM, EDX, BET-BJH, FTIR and DRS techniques. Moreover, pH_pzc of the sample with the best performance is calculated to study the effect of acidity on the photocatalyst efficiency in photocatalytic process. Ultrasound has a positive effect on photocatalyst performance that is because of its effect on distribution of particles and semiconductor band gap, but it has no effect on photostability of the nanocomposite. Sonication has modified distribution of particles by enhancing the active sites for oxidation process. Making structural gaps by ultrasound irradiation increases available surface area which has a similar effect on photocatalyst performance. Graphene oxide as electron collector and transporter prevents electron-hole recombination and it can be an acceptable reason for enhancement at photocatalyst performance. Finally, some of operational parameters such as pH, photocatalyst loading and dye concentration are investigated.