Heterogenous solar photocatalysis of two commercial reactive AZO dyes

摘要

Two commercial reactive azo dyes-Reactive Black 5(BR5) and Reactive Orange 16 (RO 16) have been treated by titanium dioxide and Zinc oxide photocatalysts separately under presence of sunlight.It is observed that solar photocatalytic treatment is effective in terms of colour and COD.The photodegradation efficiency of zinc oxide is comparable with TiO_2 at pH 5-6 for RO16.The extent of decolourization and degradation of RB5 is greater in presence of zinc oxide photocatalyst than TiO_2 at pH 5-6.Zinc oxide undergoes <1% photodissolution after 6 hours of solar irradiation at working pH.