Navid Assi - Department of Chemistry, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Parviz Aberoomand Azar - Department of Chemistry, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Mohamad Saber Tehrani - Department of Chemistry, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Seyed Waqif Husain - Department of Chemistry, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Maher Darwish - Department of Drug and Food Control, Faculty of Pharmacy, International Campus, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Sanaz Pourmand - Department of Chemistry, Amirkabir University of Technology (AUT), Tehran, Iran

ZnO- nanoparticles with an average particle size of ۲۴ nm were successfully synthesized using the microwave assisted sol- gel technique. Structural and morphological properties of the nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Energy disperse spectrum (EDS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The band gap energy was measured to be ۳.۲۷ eV. The photocatalytic degradation of tartrazine has been studied in aqueous solution under UV-C irradiation at different pH values, catalyst doses, and tartrazine concentration. Degradation of samples was monitored by a spectrophotometer. Results have shown that ۹۵% of ۵۰ mg L-۱ tartrazine was degraded in ۱۲۰ min due to the photocatalytic degradation in presence of ۰.۰۲ g of ZnO-nanoparticles. The photocatalytic degradation kinetics has also been investigated. The experimental data were fitted very well in the pseudo-first-order kinetic and Langmuir-Hinshelwood models.

Degradation, Kinetics, Photocatalytic, Tartrazine, ZnO-nanoparticles, X-ray diffraction (XRD)