Synthesis of Calcium Aluminate Nanoparticle and Its Application to Photocatalytic Degradation of Coralene Navy Blue 3G and Coralene Violet 3R

Abstract

The Calcium aluminate (CaAl₂O₄) nanoparticle was synthesized by solution combustion method using acetamide as fuel. Calcium aluminate (CaAl₂O₄) nanoparticle was characterized by Scanning Electron Micrograph (SEM), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and UV-absorption spectroscopy. The average crystallite size was found to be 42nm and the band gap energy of CaAl₂O₄ nanoparticle was 2.7eV. The photocatalytic degradation of Coralene Navy Blue 3G and Coralene Violet 3R in aqueous solution was investigated by using Calcium aluminate (CaAl₂O₄) nanoparticle by varying different parameters such as catalyst concentration, solution pH and dye concentration. All the experiments were conducted in presence of natural sun light. The highest degradation i.e., 86.52% (0.4g/100ml catalyst dose) and 87.94% (0.3g/100ml catalyst dose) was achieved at pH 3 for Coralene Navy Blue 3G and Coralene Violet 3R in aqueous medium at 30ppm concentration of dyes. After the degradation, 27.02mg/L and 28.58mg/L COD reduction was also recorded for Coralene Navy Blue 3G and Coralene Violet 3R.