Utilization of Coal Fly Ash and Rice Hull Ash as Geopolymer Matrix-cum-Metal Dopant Applied to Visible-Light-Active Nanotitania Photocatalyst System for Degradation of Dye in Wastewater

oleh: Eiza Shimizu, Michael Angelo Promentilla, Derrick Ethelbhert Yu

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2020-02-01

Deskripsi

Geopolymer (GP) spheres made from coal fly ash (FA) and rice hull ash (RHA) waste products are utilized as both support matrix and dopant applied to titania (TiO<sub>2</sub>) photocatalyst for organic dye degradation in wastewater. Processing of FA and RHA via suspension-solidification method resulted in GP spheres with nanoporous morphology. The nanocrevices enabled low-energy sol-gel TiO<sub>2</sub> coating technique because they served as anchoring sites on the geopolymer surface that favored rigidity and larger surface area. The GP-TiO<sub>2</sub> system has been characterized by infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy revealed a narrowing of the GP-TiO<sub>2</sub> system optical band gap due to the interaction of metal dopants contained in RHA and FA with TiO<sub>2</sub>, thus making the GP-TiO<sub>2</sub> system a visible-light-active photocatalyst, as confirmed by methylene blue dye degradation measured through UV-Vis spectroscopy.