Photocatalytical degradation of methyl orange (MO) using ZnO nanoparticles from alkaline wasted batteries. The effect of the MO, catalyst, and organic loads

Abstract

The photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO) using ZnO nanoparticles is reported. NPs in the range of 40-60 nm were obtained from wasted alkaline batteries anodes. The effect of the MO concentration and the catalyst load were analyzed finding that NPs exhibited similar photocatalytic activities than those reported for ZnO-NPs obtained from pure sources when similar conditions are used. The effect of the organic loads (COD from 60 to 900 ppm) in the catalyst efficiency was studied detecting that COD:60 ppm does not affect the ZnO photocatalytical properties. However, high COD loads (600-900 ppm) make the degradation efficiency almost null.