Microwave-assisted synthesis of titania-amorphous carbon nanotubes/amorphous nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes nanohybrids for photocatalytic degradation of textile wastewater

Sithembela A Zikalala; Mandla B Chabalala; Nozipho N Gumbi; Neil J Coville; Bhekie B Mamba; Bridget K Mutuma; Edward N Nxumalo

doi:10.1039/d0ra08191d

Microwave-assisted synthesis of titania-amorphous carbon nanotubes/amorphous nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes nanohybrids for photocatalytic degradation of textile wastewater

RSC Adv. 2021 Feb 8;11(12):6748-6763. doi: 10.1039/d0ra08191d. eCollection 2021 Feb 4.

Authors

Sithembela A Zikalala¹, Mandla B Chabalala¹, Nozipho N Gumbi¹, Neil J Coville², Bhekie B Mamba^{1

3}, Bridget K Mutuma², Edward N Nxumalo¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of South Africa Florida 1709 Johannesburg South Africa nxumaen@unisa.ac.za +27 11 670 9498.
² DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Strong Materials and Molecular Sciences Institute, School of Chemistry, University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg 2050 South Africa.
³ State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes, National Centre for International Joint Research on Membrane Science and Technology Tianjin 300387 People's Republic of China.

Abstract

The synthesis of TiO₂ nanohybrids fabricated using amorphous carbon nanotubes (aCNTs) and amorphous nitrogen doped carbon nanotubes (aNCNTs) via a microwave-assisted hydrothermal method is reported. The photocatalytic removal of Reactive Red 120 (RR 120) and organics from industrial textile wastewater using these nanohybrids is discussed. The synthesis process was shown to promote the removal of nano graphitic flakes from the outer walls of the aNCNTs and aCNTs and subsequent incorporation of these carbonaceous materials into TiO₂ nanocrystals as such enabling a stronger interaction between the TiO₂ and the carbonaceous material. This enabled the production of a surface plasmon resonance on the TiO₂ and NTiO₂ nanocrystals. The carbon residue was confirmed to be aCNTs and aNCNTs by TGA and DTA analyses. XPS analysis for the TiO₂-aNCNT nanohybrids confirmed the C and N doping of TiO₂ due to the amorphous residues from the aNCNTs. In addition, XPS and FTIR spectroscopic analysis confirmed the presence of surface oxygen-based groups. TEM micrograph analysis showed that aCNTs and aNCNTs promote the formation of monodispersed and small TiO₂ particles; all below 7.4 nm. The NTiO₂-aNCNT nanohybrids have the lowest energy band gap at 2.97 eV and the lowest PL intensity. The TiO₂-aNCNT nanohybrids had superior adsorptive (98.2%) and photocatalytic (99%) removal for 20 ppm RR 120 dye solution at k _1app 3.44 × 10^-2 min^-1. Lastly, all the nanohybrids demonstrate the formation of visible-light absorbing intermediates from VAT-dyed textile wastewater. The work demonstrates the possibility of the use of these nanohybrids to derive new products through photocatalytic nanohybrids.