COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PHOTOCATALYTIC DEGRADATION OF INDIGO CARMINE DYE USING NICKEL DOPED AND UNDOPED NANO COBALT (II) OXIDE AS PHOTOCATALYST

Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have been used as an alternative and effective option for the treatment of industrial wastewater, especially in the case of non-biodegradable compounds. In the present work, the photocatalytic degradation of Indigo carmine (IC) has been studied under visible light in the presence of nanocrystalline Nickeldoped Cobalt (II) oxide as a photocatalyst. Undoped cobalt (II) oxide and Nickel-cobalt (II) oxide were synthesized by using the Sol-gel method. These synthesized photocatalyst was characterized by using techniques such as Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM). The effect of various parameters like pH, concentration of dye, amount of photocatalyst, light intensity, etc., on the rate of photocatalytic degradation of the dye was studied. It was observed that at optimum experimental parameters, 78.57% of dye was degraded by Nickel-doped Cobalt oxide, while only 55.27% of dye was degraded in the case of undoped cobalt oxide in 180 min. of contact time with the photocatalyst.