The focus of the current work is the study of the effect of the photo-catalytic activity of ZnO nanoparticles. The photocatalytic destruction of methylene blue dye, a common water contaminant, was used to assess the photocatalytic efficiency of the ZnO nanoparticles from its aqueous solution by using ZnO nanoparticles thin film under UV light and laser irradiation. Sol–gel methods prepared ZnO nanoparticle thin films. X-ray diffraction and a field-emitted scanning electron microscope were utilized to examine the structure of the produced ZnO nanoparticles. An extended characterization by laser-based fluorescence and UV–visible spectroscopic techniques. The effects of operational parameters such as photo-catalyst load and contact time on photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue were investigated. The recent study’s findings showed that irradiation with a UV laser increases with power density 25 µW/cm2, the photo-catalytic rate. The UV spectra show decay for the band at 664nm decreased and the concentration of M.B. in monomer form decayed to 26% of the original concentration in 24 h, while the band at 612 which is related to the dimer M.B. molecules was not affected. The laser irradiation did the same for monomer M.B. molecules in only 3 h, while the dimer decreased to 28% of its original concentration. The reaction mechanism has been discussed by molecular modelling. Quantum mechanical calculations at B3LYP/6-311g(d,p) level indicated that methylene blue changed from dimers to monomers in the existence of ZnO. The current results present a method for degrading M.B. not only in wastewater but also in the industrial waste scale.
17 February 2009 in Angewandte Chemie International Edition
Applications of lasers in phototherapy have been the trend for the last few decades. The photodynamic therapy process normally depends on photosensitizers and laser beams. Through this study, indocyanine green has been used as a photosensitizer, which is normally activated using laser lines between 750 and 805 nm. The activity of the indocyanine green to do fluorescence by other pulsed laser sources has been tested by fluorescence technique, and it has been proven that the laser lines at 810, 940, and 980nm are able to excite the indocyanine green with different extents. The indocyanine green activation has been tested by several laser lines (810, 940, and 980 nm) commonly used as surgical lasers. The generated oxygen has been measured after irradiating the indocyanine green with the different laser lines. A comparison has been made between laser irradiation as a pinpoint and a broad beam. It is found that the wide beam is more effective in activating oxygen production. In the end, it is concluded that lines 810 and 940nm were effective in activating the used dye, while the 980nm activity did not show enough efficiency.
1 June 2009 in Journal of the Iranian Chemical Society
In the present work both FTIR and Flame AAS were jointly used to investigate the uptake of pollutants by the aquatic plant water hyacinth. The plant was immersed alive in synthetic standard solutions containing acetic acid up to 0.40 M for 19.0 h. Then it was immersed in 0.10 M acetic acid for different periods of time up to 210.0 h. Later on, both the acetic acid treated beside non treated ones was immersed separately in 1.0, 3.0 and 5.0 mg l-1 concentrates derived from Cd and Pb up to 240.0 h. The obtained results demonstrate the capability of the plant to remove both organic and inorganic pollutants. It is recommended that the plant be used to remediate Pb and Cd as well as other organic pollutants containing COOH. The results also indicate that the selectivity for Pb is higher than that of Cd. Additionally, pentahydrated divalent metal acetate model is presented to describe the coordination of the divalent metal ion with the acetic acid.