Preparation of Nano Zinc Oxide and its Application in the Photocatalytic Degradation of Ampicillin

This study was undertaken to prepare Nano zinc oxide (ZnO) by precipitation and microemulsion methods. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), FTIR spectrometry, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET) surface area were the techniques employed for the preparation. The particle size of prepared nano ZnO was 69.15nm and 88.49nm for precipitation and microemulsion methods, respectively, which corresponded to the BET surface area 20.028 and 16.369m/g respectively. The activity of prepared nano ZnO as a photocatalyst was estimated by the removal of ampicillin (Amp) under visible light. This study, therefore, examined the effect of pH in the range of 5-11, initial concentration of ampicillin in the range 30-70ppm, and nano ZnO concentration in the range 0.25-0.75g/L in a time period of 5h. The optimum operating conditions were pH 11, zinc oxide 0.5g/L, ampicillin initial concentration 70ppm, and that achieved for precipitation method to obtain degradation efficiency of 86% after 5h.