Photochemical Degradation of Azo Dyes with Iron Oxide

Abstract

The evolution of society over the past decades has been accompanied by a major environmental problem due to all of the contaminants generated. Water is especially affected by all of this pollution and its treatment in order to eliminate these contaminants has become an issue of great importance in recent years. Within the many different processes that exist to purify water resources Photochemistry is a field that has received increasing attention for this purpose over the last years. Fenton and photo-Fenton processes have been applied for this purpose. In this work, the ability of iron oxide (II) as a photocatalyst for the degradation of organic compounds in water is evaluated. A number of Azo dyes were tested in aqueous solution under different conditions of pH, hydrogen peroxide concentration, light conditions and particle size. The results were compared with FeSO4, a known Fenton reagent widely used in photodegradation of organic substances in water.