thermal activation and loading of clay/tio₂/ctab composite: physicochemical characterization and adsorption-photodegradation of methyl orange

The discharge of textile effluents induces organic pollutants that necessitate attention to ensure environmental sustainability. this study presents eco-synthesis and an enhanced adsorption-photocatalyst over a clay/tio2/ctab composite for photodegradation of an organic dye pollutant (methyl orange; mo). natural clay used in this work was purified via hydrothermal treatment to produce activated clay.  subsequently, tio2 was intercalated with ctab surfactant and combined with clay to obtain the clay/tio2/ctab composite. the material was synthesized via a dispersion and centrifugation process. the presence of tio2 pillared clay/ctab showed important photocatalytic properties and high-adsorption performance for the degradation of the mo compound. the clay/tio2/ctab was found to be the most effective adsorption-photocatalyst when compared using homogeneous material. the natural clay was characterized by x-ray fluorescence (xrf), while clay/tio2/ctab was identified using x-ray diffraction (xrd), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ftir), and scanning electron microscope (sem). the successful formation of the clay/tio2/ctab was indicated by ftir analysis under the wavenumber shown in the fingerprint region predicting the presence of al-oh and o-ti-o elements (450-1000 cm-1), while ctab was generalized to form amide bonds (1360 cm-1). confirmation of the xrf data shows clay contains high sio2 and al2o3 with good crystallinity, as well as clay/tio2 and clay/tio2/ctab, showing crystallinity patterns of quartz, kaolinite, anatase, rutile, and montmorillonite. the micrographs of the synthesized materials show rough surfaces and non-uniform surfaces with different tio2 grains widely dispersed on the surface. the adsorption-photocatalyst performance of the clay/tio2/ctab composite was evaluated in three parameters, namely ph optimization, contact time, and degradation ability, showing excellent degradation performance at a ph 5 with 60 minutes contact time with a degradation efficiency of 89.90%. clay/tio2/ctab material influenced the adsorption ability and changed the acidity of the waste to make the treated wastewater environmentally safe.