Waste Recycle using Nanotechnology : Environment for UPSC Exams
Traditional methods for the treatment of industrial dyes are expensive and do not completely break them down to non-toxic constituents but merely concentrate them.
Reseachers have developed a photo-catalytic degradation agent using titanium dioxide nano-particles doped with sulphur and carbon by treating it with red seaweed polymer carrageenan.
The energy required to activate the catalyst is less when it is doped, making the dye degradation faster than the traditionally available ones.
The researchers have been able to totally degrade three industrial dyes - methyl orange, methylene blue and reactive black-5 - in the presence of sunlight.
Visible light is mainly responsible for the degradation.
Further advantage is that the nano-composites are thermally stable and can be reused up to six times with the degradation efficiency remaining at over 97 per cent.
