Construction of diatomite/ZnFe layered double hydroxides hybrid composites for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants

The diatomite/ZnFe layered double hydroxides hybrid composites (DZF) were synthesized using a facile co-precipitation method. The synthesized DZF hybrid composites were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), N-2 adsorption-desorption (BET), and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). In this research, the photocatalytic activity of the as-prepared samples was evaluated through the degradation of methylene blue (MB) and malachite green (MG) under visible light irradiation. 5 wt% loading of modified diatomite was confirmed to be most effective for improving the photocatalytic activity of ZnFe layered double hydroxides for the degradation of MB and MG and approximately 94.46% and 97.02% of degradation was obtained after 180 min and 150 min visible light irradiation, respectively. Besides, kinetics studies were indicated that the photodegradation reaction followed pseudo first order. During the photocatalytic degradation process, h(+), e(-), O-2(-) and OH are key parameters in photocatalytic reaction. Based on the experimental results, a possible mechanism for photocatalytic degradation was also given in this experiment.