Loading of nickel phthalocyanine onto functionalized mesoporous KIT-6: Its application in photodegradation of hazardous pollutants

With regard to the limitation of water resources, the importance of clean and non-polluting water is evident. In this regard, efforts to eliminate high-risk contaminations from water will be significant. 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP) is one of the high-risk sources of contaminating water resources. Many homogeneous and heterogeneous systems have been examined to eliminate this pollutant. In the present study, our goal is to provide a solution to eliminate TCP by a new and efficient advanced photrocatalytic method. For this aim we immobilized nickeltetrasulphophthalocyanine complex (NiPcS) onto amine functionalized mesoporous KIT-6. Our product shows good photocatalytic activity for degradation of TCP under UV light. The concentration of the pollutant was 30 ppm in a volume of 50 ml and the catalyst content was 10 mg. The time of irradiation was 70 min and the degradation efficiency was 83% at. To ensure the catalyst s optical stability, the photocatalyst was tested in three cycles of recycling, and the results after the third stage showed a 15% decrease. This result shows the optical stability of the prepared catalyst. The product was characterization by XRD, FT-IR, FE-SEM, EDX and DRS analysis. It is concluded that NiPcS-NH2-KIT-6 is an efficient catalyst for degradation of TCP under UV light without any extra oxidizer.