New materials are obtained by transforming fly ash wastes into a valuable composite, with tandem adsorption and photodegradation properties. Mild hydrothermal synthesis, from titanium dioxide, platinum nanoparticles and zeolite materials obtained from a waste, fly ash, as support, was involved in the composite preparation. The platinum nanoparticles extended the photocatalytic activity of the composite in visible range (Eg = 2.1 eV). The efficiency of tandem adsorption and photocatalytic activity of the new composite were determined to be 25% for Bemacid Blau and 43.89% for Bemacid Rot after 360 min, the irradiation time. The addition of H2O2 improves the process efficiency up to 80.70% and 93.43%, respectively. The Pt nanoparticle (PtNP) contribution led to the band gap energy change to Vis light (400 nm), thus suggesting the possibility of photocatalysis under the action of a fraction of natural light.
Keywords: adsorption; fly ash waste; industrial dyes; photodegradation; platinum nanoparticles.