Synthesis ofMgFe204 Photocatalyst Nanoparticles by Sonochemical Method: Modification of Particle Size and Its Effect on Photocatalytic Activity

• Main Author: Hilmi Kautsar, Zulfa
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Subjects: Kimia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/38555
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Photocatalysts are compounds that can catalyze redox reactions by utilizing light energy. It is known that dominant energy of sunlight is in the range of visible light, whereas photocatalysts that work in this wavelength range generally have low photocatalytic activity due to the short time of charge carrier recombination, one of the example i s MgFe204. In this study a particle size modification of MgFe204 was carried out to increase its photocatalytic activity. X-ray diffraction characterization results show that the product produced has high purity, the particle size produced ranges from 11.5 to 22.1 nm. The characterization of diffuse reflectance spectroscopy shows that the bandgap energy values tend to increase in the particle size range of0-13.6 nrn, constant in the range of 13.6 nrn-14.5 nrn then decrease in the range of 14.5 nm- 22.1 nrn. The photocatalytic test is carried out on the degradation of methylene blue and rhodamine B under UV light and toluene oxidation in several pH values. Synthesized MgF 04 did not show photocatalytic activity in degradation testing of methylene blue and rhodamine B in the range of experiments. Tests for catalyzing toluene oxidation reactions showed that tests under pH values of 14,12, and 5 did not show photocatalytic activity of MgFe204 photocatalyst. In the other hand, tests under pH values of7 and 8 showed a change in the UV­ Vis spectrum indicating a change in structure.