ENHANCED REMOVAL OF CRYSTAL VIOLET DYE USING ZINC OXIDE NANORODS AND AIR OXIDATION UNDER SUNLIGHT RADIATION

A simple chemical precipitation method is employed for the synthesis of ZnO nanorods using zinc acetate precursor in basic medium. The synthesized zinc oxide nanoparticles are characterized using x-ray diffraction analysis, transmission electron microscopy, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, photoluminescence and bet surface area analysis. These zinc oxide nanorods are used for the photocatalytic decolorization of crystal violet dye and the rate enhancement is achieved by air purging under sunlight radiation. Effective dye removal is attained by optimizing the parameters such as the effect of pH, catalyst dosage and initial dye concentration and the nature of the interaction of hydroxyl and superoxide anion radicals with the crystal violet dye is discussed in this paper.