Poppy Anggara Kasih, Nuhaa Faaizatunnisa, Munasir
Clean water and adequate sanitation are fundamental human needs (SDGs-6). Semiconductors such as ZnO nanoparticles have become a highly developing research topic due to their broad applications. One of their applications is as a photocatalyst for the treatment of textile waste. The addition of activated carbon derived from palm shell can enhance the efficiency of photocatalysis, facilitate more efficient electron transfer, and increase the number of charges available for the oxidation reaction of toxic dyes in textile waste. Therefore, this research aims to analyze the characteristics of ZnO/rGO nanocomposites synthesized through the in-situ hydrothermal method, and (2) analyze the percentage degradation value of methylene blue dye in the photocatalytic activity achieved by ZnO/rGO under UV light. ZnO/rGO nanocomposites were synthesized using the in-situ hydrothermal method by utilizing palm shell waste as a precursor for graphene oxide (GO. The research results showed that in the ZnO/rGO nanocomposites, no rGO peak was observed in the XRD results due to the disruption of rGO stacking with the insertion of ZnO nanoparticles. The nanocomposites had a hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure, an average grain size of 89.63 nm, the mass variation of the nanocomposites influenced the photodegradation of the dye. It was found that a 5% mass variation of ZnO/rGO had a degradation percentage of 98%, while a 10% mass variation had a degradation percentage of 99% after 60 minutes of UV irradiation. © 2025 Author(s).
Departement of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Surabaya State University (Unesa), Surabaya, 60231, Indonesia; Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Data Analytics, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS), Surabaya, 60111, Indonesia
