Preparation of zinc oxide (ZnO)-doped activated carbon (AC) based photocatalytic material, and its application in photocatalytic waste water splitting process

Abstract

In the present study, zinc oxide (ZnO) was doped with activated carbon prepared from date seeds by pyrolysis to synthesize a photocatalyst ZnO-AC. The performance of the synthesized photocatalyst was evaluated in the waste-water splitting process.The efficiency of the water splitting process over the photocatalyst ZnO-AC was investigated under various experimental parameters such as light source, weight ratio ZnO/AC, and irradiation time. The results indicate that the optimal ratio for the photocatalyst is 4/6 ZnO-AC, as the best light source is 1000 w.Results obtained showed that 4/6 ZnO-AC photocatalyst is a promising candidate for waste-water splitting, where wastewater can be treated and hydrogen and oxygen are also produced.