PHOTOCATALYTIC DEGRADATION OF PHENOL-RED OVER SB2S3 -GRAPHENE OXIDE COMPOSITEKhushbu Sharma, Shubham Jaiswal, Archana Surana and Yuvraj Kunwar JhalaAbstract The photocatalytic degradation of phenol red has been studied in the presence of Sb2S3 -graphene oxide (GO) as a composite photocatalyst. The composite was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscopy analysis (FESEM), Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) analyses. The XRD patterns indicated the formation of cubic inverse spinel structure and average particle size was found to be 14.26 nm. The photocatalytic activity of Sb2S3 -GO was evaluated in photodegradation of phenol red dye under visible light. The effect of various parameters such as pH, the concentration of dye, amount of semiconductor and light intensity on the rate of degradation was also studied. Oxygen molecule radical anion was considered responsible for oxidative photodegradation of phenol red. A tentative mechanism has been proposed for this reaction. |