Z. Phys. Chem. 2019; aop Muhammad Saeed*, Muhammad Ibrahim, Majid Muneer, Nadia Akram, Muhammad Usman, Iqra Maqbool, Muhammad Adeel and Asif Nisar ZnOśTiO 2 : Synthesis, Characterization and Evaluation of Photo Catalytic Activity towards Degradation of Methyl Orange https://doi.org/10.1515/zpch-2019-1536 Received August 27, 2019; accepted September 16, 2019 Abstract: Here in, we report the synthesis and characterization of ZnO–TiO 2 composite as a potential photo catalyst for photo degradation of methyl orange under UV irradiation. ZnO–TiO 2 with 1:1 ratio was synthesized via wet incipient impregnation method using TiO 2 and Zn(NO 3 ) 2 · 6H 2 O as precursor material and the prepared composite was characterized by XRD, EDX and SEM. The synthe- sized composite was employed as photo catalyst for photo degradation of methyl orange. The photo degradation results showed that ZnO–TiO 2 exhibited better cat- alytic performance than ZnO and TiO 2 alone. The methyl orange photo degrada- tion efficiency was determined to be 98, 75 and 60% over ZnO–TiO 2 , ZnO and TiO 2 respectively using 50 mL solution of 100 mg/L at 40 °C for 120 min. The ZnO–TiO 2 catalyzed photo degradation of methyl orange followed pseudo-first-order kinetic in terms of Langmuir–Hinshelwood mechanism. Keywords: Langmuir–Hinshelwood mechanism; methyl orange; photo degrada- tion; ZnO–TiO 2 . 1 Introduction Many industries including textile, leather dyeing, cosmetic, photographic, rubber, food processing, drugs, paper, plastic etc. generate a huge amount of wastewater *Corresponding author: Muhammad Saeed, Department of Chemistry, Government College University Faisalabad, Jhang Road, Faisalabad, Pakistan, e-mail: msaeed@gcuf.edu.pk Muhammad Ibrahim: Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan Majid Muneer, Nadia Akram, Muhammad Usman, Iqra Maqbool, Muhammad Adeel and Asif Nisar: Department of Chemistry, Government College University Faisalabad, Jhang Road, Faisalabad, Pakistan Brought to you by | Cornell University Library Authenticated Download Date | 11/3/19 11:57 AM