The effect of loading palladium on zinc oxide on the photocatalytic degradation of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) in water

Zaki S Seddigi; Saleh A Ahmed; Shahid P Ansari; Naeema H Yarkandi; Ekram Danish; Abdullah Abu Alkibash; Mohammed D Y Oteef; Shakeel Ahmed

doi:10.1111/php.12242

The effect of loading palladium on zinc oxide on the photocatalytic degradation of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) in water

Photochem Photobiol. 2014 May-Jun;90(3):491-5. doi: 10.1111/php.12242. Epub 2014 Feb 23.

Authors

Zaki S Seddigi¹, Saleh A Ahmed, Shahid P Ansari, Naeema H Yarkandi, Ekram Danish, Abdullah Abu Alkibash, Mohammed D Y Oteef, Shakeel Ahmed

Affiliation

¹ Chemistry Department, College of Applied Sciences, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia.

PMID: 24446694
DOI: 10.1111/php.12242

Abstract

A series of heterogeneous catalysts was prepared by doping zinc oxide with different palladium loadings in the range of 0.5%-1.5%. The prepared catalysts were characterized by SEM, TEM and XRD. These catalysts were applied to study the degradation of Methyl tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE). An amount of 100 mg of each of these catalysts was added to an aqueous solution of 100 ppm of MTBE. The resulting mixtures were irradiated with UV light for a period of 5 h. A 99.7% removal of MTBE was achieved in the case of the zinc oxide photocatalyst particles doped with 1% Pd. The photoreaction was found to be a first-order one.