Utilization of industrial wastes for preparation of high performance ZnO/diatomite hybrid photocatalyst

The enhanced photocatalytic activity of ZnO was successfully obtained by immobilized ZnO particles on diatomite support using simple impregnation and calcination method. It is interesting that both starting materials (ZnO and diatomite) used for hybrid photocatalyst synthesis in this work were prepared from industrial wastes. A zinc-dust waste derived from hot-dip galvanizing process was used for synthesis of zinc oxide particles and diatomite waste derived from brewery industries was used as a porous substrate. Effects of preparation pH, loading amount of zinc oxide and calcination temperature on the photocatalytic activity for degradation of methylene blue solution of ZnO-immobilized hybrid photocatalyst products were investigated. It was demonstrated that the enhancement in photodegradation performance of ZnO caused by the high absorbability of diatomite support. The hybrid photocatalyst sample prepared by precipitation at pH 10 loading with 20 wt% of ZnO on diatomite and calcination at 600 °C showed the highest methylene blue degradation efficiency of about 85.90% under UV light irradiation for 2 h.