PbS/ZIF-67 nanocomposite: novel material for photocatalytic degradation of basic yellow 28 and direct blue 199 dyes

In recently years, the significant focus of research was on the photocatalytic elimination of organic dye pollutants using semiconductor photocatalysis. In this study, the novel PbS/ZIF-67 nanocomposite was synthesized as a semiconductor photocatalyst for photodegradation of Basic Yellow 28 (BY28) and Direct Blue 199 (DB199) from wastewater. The prepared samples were characterized by FT-IR, XRD, SEM, TEM, and photoluminescence (PL) analysis. The influence of photocatalyst type, photocatalyst dosage (5–25 mg), solution pH (2–11), and dye's initial concentration (10-50 ppm) on the photocatalytic reduction of dyes in the visible light range were examined. The performance of solar photocatalytic reduction of the PbS/ZIF-67 nanocomposite generally grew with the presence of visible light, and increment of photocatalyst loading, while decreased by higher amounts of dyes initial solution concentration. Kinetic results demonstrated that the pseudo 1st order model (simplified Langmuir-Hinshelwood equation) was the desirable method for describing the experimental data. Photocatalytic regeneration also indicated that the photo reduction efficiency stood at the higher amounts over 4 cycles, demonstrating the important regeneration ability of nanocomposite.