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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Water-Smart Food Production
Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1500907
This article is part of the Research Topic Green Approaches Towards Pollutants Amputation for Water Footprint Sustainability in Food Systems View all 4 articles

Development of a Novel Composite Catalyst containing Renewable Biochar blended with Zinc Oxide and Copper Diphenyl Amine for Visible Light Photocatalytic Degradation of Methylene Blue

Provisionally accepted
Aroosha Saif Aroosha Saif 1Syeda Itrat Rizvi Syeda Itrat Rizvi 1Zareen Shaukat Zareen Shaukat 1Fahad Javed Fahad Javed 2Sobia Tabassum Sobia Tabassum 3Rizwan Khalid Rizwan Khalid 1Mamoona Saif Mamoona Saif 1Nazih Yacer Rebouh Nazih Yacer Rebouh 4Faiza Hassan Faiza Hassan 5*Qamar Zaman Qamar Zaman 6*
  • 1 University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
  • 2 Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
  • 3 Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan
  • 4 Institute of Environmental Engineering, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russia
  • 5 Department of Chemistry, University of Lahore, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
  • 6 Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, University of Lahore, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Effective wastewater management remains a significant challenge in Pakistan, with conventional methods often falling short in addressing the release of harmful pollutants into water bodies. This study explores the use of a novel composite photocatalyst combining biochar, zinc oxide (ZnO), and copper diphenylamine (Cu-DPA) to improve wastewater treatment under visible light. The composite was prepared by varying the Cu-DPA content in ZnO, with ratios of 50%, 40%, 30%, and 17%, alongside standard biochar ZnO and Cu-DPA formulations. Characterization techniques, including FTIR, XRD, and UV-visible spectroscopy were used to analyze the composite's properties. Photocatalytic performance was assessed by degrading Methylene Blue, a common dye pollutant, under visible light. The results showed that while ZnO alone achieved 78% degradation, the composites with different Cu-DPA ratios demonstrated varying efficiencies, with the biochar-enhanced ZnO/Cu-DPA composite achieving the highest degradation rate of 97% in 80 minutes. Additionally, this composite exhibited good reusability over seven cycles. This research highlights the potential of the biochar ZnO/Cu-DPA composite as an effective, eco-friendly solution for wastewater treatment, offering significant improvements in photocatalytic performance and sustainability.

    Keywords: visible photocatalysis, Methylene Blue, Advanced oxidation process, biochar, Wastewater 1. Introduction

    Received: 24 Sep 2024; Accepted: 13 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Saif, Rizvi, Shaukat, Javed, Tabassum, Khalid, Saif, Rebouh, Hassan and Zaman. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Faiza Hassan, Department of Chemistry, University of Lahore, Lahore, 46000, Punjab, Pakistan
    Qamar Zaman, Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, University of Lahore, Lahore, 46000, Punjab, Pakistan

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