Green synthesis and characterization of undoped and aluminium-doped nano ferric-biochar composite for water treatment and photocatalytic dye degradation.
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Date
2026
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Busitema University
Abstract
Despite widespread efforts, existing water treatment techniques in Uganda remain insufficient to address chemical contamination from industrial dyes. In Uganda, most municipal water supplies utilize disinfection by chlorination. the aim of this study is to explore innovative sustainable alternatives that combine high-performance pollutant removal with environmental safety. This study explored. The use of nano ferric-biochar composite as an innovative and affordable solution to this problem. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop and evaluate the performance of green-synthesized nano ferric-biochar composite materials for use in water treatment, targeting the removal synthetic dyes. The materials were synthesized via green chemistry route and characterized by various methods including SEM/EDX, FTIR, XRD and UV-Vis. SEM gave the material’s morphology, while EDX gave the composition. Analysis of SEM images gave standard nanoparticle sizes of 22.28 ± 0.86 nm and 15.83 ± 0.86 nm for the doped and undoped samples respectively. Both particle sizes fall within the Nano-scale range of 1-100 nm. XRD results revealed a nano-crystalline hematite phase on biochar for both the doped and undoped samples, with crystallite sizes of 14.0 nm and 7.0 nm with interplanar spacings of 0.4 and 0.3 nm respectively. The mean degradation times were 68 ± 2.5 minutes for the undoped and 81 ± 2.5 minutes, for the aluminum-doped respectively. The photodegradation percentages of methylene blue dye were 87± 0.26% and 71 ± 0.21% with the Aluminium-doped and undoped samples respectively. The degradation of methylene blue is a pseudo-first order, with rate constants of 0.0114 min-1 and 0.0101 min-1 for the Al-doped and undoped nano ferric-biochar composites respectively. The energy band gap is 2.3 eV and lies within the visible range. This energy band gap shows that the material is a potential photocatalyst. The achieved levels of MB dye degradation make it promising in water treatment applications. Hence, the study introduces a new water treatment technology in Uganda, that can remove synthetic dyes from water.
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Okoth, J. (2026). Green synthesis and characterization of undoped and aluminium-doped nano ferric-biochar composite for water treatment and photocatalytic dye degradation. [Unpublished dissertation]. Busitema University.