Hydrothermal synthesis of carboxylated functionalized jute stick carbon and reduced graphene oxide based ZnO nanocomposite photocatalysts: A comparative study

The advancement of photocatalytic degradation to eliminate toxic organic pollutants from wastewater has progressed rapidly. Although numerous photocatalysts have been reported, there remains a huge demand of appropriate photocatalyst materials that demonstrates remarkable photocatalytic efficiency. The prime target of this study is to explore a new way of fabricating low cost and environmentally friendly carboxylated functionalized jute stick carbon based ZnO photocatalyst for eliminating organic dyes from aqueous solution. In this study, nanostructure semiconductor photocatalyst undecorated ZnO, carboxylated activated jute stick carbon based ZnO (ZnO/JSAC-COO^–), and reduced graphene oxide based ZnO (ZnO-rGO) composites were fabricated by a facile low-cost hydrothermal process. The crystallinity, morphology, particle size, chemical characterization and optical properties were characterized by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), Raman Spectroscopy and UV–visible spectroscopy, respectively. The XRD results showed that all XRD patterns of photocatalyst have a wurtzite, hexagonal structure of ZnO without any impurities. The catalytic activities of fabricated samples were examined by the photodegradation of methylene blue dye in water under UV light. The photocatalyst ZnO/JSAC-COO^– composite exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity than ZnO and ZnO-rGO catalysts. The highest degradation and mineralization were obtained 97.57 % for methylene blue over ZnO/JSAC-COO^– within 300 min UV light irradiation. Photodegradation results suggest that ZnO/JSAC-COO^– composite prepared by hydrothermal method has a potential application in photo-catalysis leading to the efficient removal of harmful organic pollutants from the wastewater.