National Institute of Technology, Karnataka

About: National Institute of Technology, Karnataka is a education organization based out in Mangalore, Karnataka, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Computer science & Corrosion. The organization has 5017 authors who have published 7057 publications receiving 70367 citations.

Visible light-induced photocatalytic degradation of Reactive Blue-19 over highly efficient polyaniline-TiO2 nanocomposite: a comparative study with solar and UV photocatalysis.

Abstract: Polyaniline-TiO2 (PANI-TiO2) nanocomposite was prepared by in situ polymerisation method. X-ray diffractogram (XRD) showed the formation of PANI-TiO2 nanocomposite with the average crystallite size of 46 nm containing anatase TiO2. The PANI-TiO2 nanocomposite consisted of short-chained fibrous structure of PANI with spherical TiO2 nanoparticles dispersed at the tips and edge of the fibres. The average hydrodynamic diameter of the nanocomposite was 99.5 nm. The band gap energy was 2.1 eV which showed its ability to absorb light in the visible range. The nanocomposite exhibited better visible light-mediated photocatalytic activity than TiO2 (Degussa P25) in terms of degradation of Reactive Blue (RB-19) dye. The photocatalysis was favoured under initial acidic pH, and complete degradation of 50 mg/L dye could be achieved at optimum catalyst loading of 1 g/L. The kinetics of degradation followed the Langmuir-Hinshelhood model. PANI-TiO2 nanocomposite showed almost similar photocatalytic activity under UV and visible light as well as in the solar light which comprises of radiation in both UV and visible light range. Chemical oxygen demand removal of 86% could also be achieved under visible light, confirming that simultaneous mineralization of the dye occurred during photocatalysis. PANI-TiO2 nanocomposites are promising photocatalysts for the treatment of industrial wastewater containing RB-19 dye.

Novel RGO–ZnWO4–Fe3O4 nanocomposite as high performance visible light photocatalyst

Abstract: A novel RGO–ZnWO4–Fe3O4 nanocomposite is synthesized by a microwave irradiation method and its catalytic activity for the photo degradation of Methylene Blue (MB) is investigated. The prepared nanocomposites are characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Raman spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) and UV-visible spectroscopy. The visible light photocatalytic activities of the prepared nanocomposites are investigated using a MB dye solution. It is noteworthy that RGO–ZnWO4–Fe3O4 nanocomposites exhibited relatively high photocatalytic activity compared to ZnWO4–RGO and pure ZnWO4 on MB in aqueous solution. This enhanced rate is due to the ability of the graphene in the RGO–ZnWO4–Fe3O4 composite to support carrier exploitation efficiently by tolerating the photo excited electron–hole pairs and thus encouraging oxidative degradation of the pollutants. This work could be extended to other organic pollutants as well and could provide new insights into ternary nanocomposites as high performance photocatalysts and their application in waste water treatment.