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Enhancing the photocatalytic activity of Ga 2 O 3 –TiO 2 nanocomposites using sonication amplitudes for the degradation of Rhodamine B dye
Author(s) -
Amdeha Enas,
ElSalamony Radwa A.,
AlSabagh Ahmed M.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
applied organometallic chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.53
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1099-0739
pISSN - 0268-2605
DOI - 10.1002/aoc.5336
Subject(s) - sonication , photocatalysis , chemistry , rhodamine b , photodegradation , x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , nuclear chemistry , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , zeta potential , analytical chemistry (journal) , bet theory , rhodamine , degradation (telecommunications) , photochemistry , catalysis , fluorescence , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , nanoparticle , materials science , chromatography , organic chemistry , optics , engineering , telecommunications , physics , computer science
A Ga 2 O 3 –TiO 2 photocatalyst was synthesized by a mechanomixing method followed by a sonication technique using different amplitudes of sonication (0%, 25%, 50%, and 75% of 20 kHz). The prepared photocatalysts were characterized by X‐ray diffraction, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier‐transform infrared, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area ( S BET ), zeta potential, and optical techniques. Ga 2 O 3 –TiO 2 exhibited an excellent photocatalytic activity for Rhodamine B (RhB) dye degradation under UV irradiation. The RhB degradation rate rose linearly with the increase of sonication amplitude. The photodegradation rate ( k ) of the synthesized samples was calculated according to the Langmuir–Hinshelwood kinetic expression. It reached a maximum of 5.25 × 10 −2 min −1 with R 2 of 0.99 for Ga 2 O 3 –TiO 2 (75%) photocatalysts. The main reactive species were detected through radical scavenging experiments. The formation of hole reactive species is the rate‐determining step in the case of Ga 2 O 3 –TiO 2 (75%) photocatalysts.