Nickel-Chitosan Hybrid as a Precursor for Nickel Oxide Nanoporous Particles for Organic Dyes Photodegredation

Abstract

Hydrothermal synthesis of nickel-chitosan hybrid has been accomplished using Ni(CH₃COO)₂,4H₂O, chitosan and water as starting material, template and solvent respectively, followed by calcination at 800 and 900˚C to provide nanoporous NiO₈₀₀and NiO₉₀₀. The solid products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen adsorption-desorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) techniques. NiO₈₀₀ proved to be active for adsorption of Congo red with pseudo-second order kinetic model and adsorption isotherms, respectively fitted by Freundlich equation. NiO₉₀₀was also found to successfully catalyze the photodegradation of organic dye pollutants such as Congo red and methylene blue. The kinetic of photocatalytic behavior of NiO₉₀₀ have proven to obey the first order and Langmuir–Hinshelwood model.