Photodegradation efficiency of methyl orange and Alizarin Red S in waste water using poly(azomethine)/TiO₂ nanocomposite

The growth of a country entirely depends upon the industrialization expansion and agricultural production. Such industrial expansion also results ultimately in the accumulation of pollutants to a larger extend particularly in all segments of the environment. Among them, water pollution caused by textile dye industries contaminates the entire irrigational water stream. Hence it has become a challenging role for the technocrats and material science researchers to find an alternate solution to minimize the extent of pollution caused. Among many Conventional methods AOP (Advanced Oxidation Process) was chosen as an alternative method to treat polluted water. The aim of the present research work is to synthesize an azomethine polymer (PAZ) through polycondensation polymerization technique, semiconductor nanoparticles such as TiO₂ through simple precipitation methodology and composite materials constitute of synthesized nanoparticles in polymeric resin such as TiO₂ doped PAZ (PNT) through Ultrasonication method. The structural characterisation was justified using FTIR, XRD, EDAX TEM, and UV-DRS studies. The synthesized catalytic materials were used for the photodegradation of dyes such as Methyl Orange (MO) and Alizarin Red S (ARS). The parameters influencing the photodegradation of the dyes such as effect of initial dye solution concentration and period of contact required for the maximum dye removal were analyzed. The photocatalyic nature of the semiconductor nanomaterials and polymeric nanocomposite obeyed the application of Langmuir-Hinshellwood (L-H) kinetic model. The synthesized catalyst materials were found to be stable even upto 5 cycles without losing its catalytic nature.