Photochemical Elimination of Endocrine Disrupting Chemical (EDC) by ZnO Nanoparticles, Synthesized by Gel Combustion.

Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles prepared by gel combustion synthesis using cassava pearl starch have been characterized by various microscopy and spectroscopy techniques. The particle size averaged around 45 nm, revealed zincite structure, hexagonal, agglomerated morphology and possessed an excellent photocatalytic activity in sunlight. Contrary to the existing literature survey, this photocatalyst possessed a band gap of 2.7 eV, causing an extended absorption towards broader range of the solar spectrum, thus making it an excellent visible light-activated photocatalyst. Photocatalytic activity was investigated on one of the highly resistant, most-focused endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC) benzophenone-3 (BP-3), which is used in personnel care products. The observations reveal a near complete photooxidative degradation of BP-3. A reaction mechanism for the photooxidative pathway was proposed based on the isolated intermediates.