Available online at www.scholarsresearchlibrary.com Scholars Research Library Archives of Applied Science Research, 2011, 3 (4):450-462 (http://scholarsresearchlibrary.com/archive.html) ISSN 0975-508X CODEN (USA) AASRC9 450 Scholars Research Library Solar photodegradation of methylene blue by LaMnO 3 nanorods as a heterogeneous catalyst S. M. Khetre a* , H. V. Jadhav b , P. N. Jagadale b , S. V. Bangale, S. R. Kulal b , S. R. Bamane b a Dahiwadi College Dahiwadi,Tal. Man, Dist. Satara (M.S.), India b Metal Oxide Research Laboratory, Dr. Patangrao Kadam Mahavidhyalaya Sangli (M.S.), India ______________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT Semiconductor photocatalysis has proved to be an efficient method for decolorization and degradation of pollutants. The potential of the prepared photocatalyst in degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye under sunlight irradiation was studied. Characterization of LaMnO 3 nanorods of prepared sample was studied using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), TG/DTA, SEM, TEM and BET methods. The influence of experimental parameters on the dye photodegradation process was studied and it was observed that photo reactivity of photocatalyst (LaMnO 3 ) varied with the amount of catalyst, initial dye concentration, pH of the dye solution, H 2 O 2 oxidant. The optimal experimental conditions were determined as follow: catalyst amount; 0.16gm/L, concentration of the dye solution; 10 ppm, pH of solution; 9.3 and 6% H 2 O 2 solution under these optimum conditions, the obtained degradation efficiency for MB dye was 100 %. The reusability of the intended catalyst was also investigated. Keywords: Oxide material, Catalysis, TG/DTA, XRD, SEM, TEM. ______________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION The treatment of toxic and persistent organic pollutants into the aquatic environment has recently taken much attention in the environmental. Dyes pollutants are not easily biodegradable and entering the environment causes so many problems.[1- 2] Nowadays, heterogeneous photocatalysis processes are one of the most efficient methods for destroying organic pollutants and dyes in aqueous media [3-4]. In these processes, electron–hole pairs are generated under irradiation of a semiconductor material (usually metal oxides) which plays a major role in the degradation or decolorization of pollutants, a process with obvious environmental remediation potential.[5] Heterogeneous photocatalysis is a branch of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) which has the capability of generating active radical oxidants such as hydroxyl or superoxide