Photocatalytic degradation efficiency of azo dye in aqueous phase using different photo catalysts

The new azo dye [4-(4-hydroxy-2-methylnaphthyl)diazenyl]benzoic acid was synthesized by the reaction of 2-methyl-1-naphthol with p-amino benzoic acid. The photcatalytic degradation of azo dye has been investigated by using zinc oxide and cadmium sulfide. This degradation was carried out by the irradiation of aqueous suspended solutions containing different concentrations of this dye using 0.11 g/100 mL of metal oxide (semiconductors) ZnO and CdS. A mercury lamp 125 W in a Pyrex photoreaction cell of 100 mL at room temperature was used as an irradiation source. The effect of the catalyst on the photocatalytic degradation of the prepared dye was studied via several experiments at different conditions, where they involve the effect of the catalyst mass and the effect of the dye concentrations. The irradiated solutions were studied using UV-Vis spectrophotometer. It has been the performance of photocatalytic system that using ZnO was observed to be better than cadmium sulfide system for degrade the azo compound from its aqueous solution. KEY WORDS: Photocatalytic, Degradation, Semiconductors, Zinc oxide; Cadmium sulphide, Azo dye Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2020, 34(3), 463-469. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v34i3.3