Core-shell nanomaterials have emerged as a frontier area of focus in materials chemistry and catalysis. Here, we have explored the photocatalyst potential of a double layered core-shell material comprising a rare earth material as core and silica, zinc oxide as the subsequent shell materials. The prepared core-shell has average particle size of 40-60 nm, and the material has been characterized by FTIR, XRD, UV-DRS and FESEM techniques. The band gap energy of prepared material is 2.82 eV. The photocatalytic activity has been tested against Orange-G and Malachite green dye under visible light irradiation. A comparison for degradation of azo and non-azo dye has been elucidated. Preliminary studies with varying pH, catalyst dosage and initial dye concentration have been done to determine the optimum parameters for photocatalytic activity. The kinetic studies follow pseudo-first-order pathway. The prepared core-shell nanomaterial is found efficient for degradation of non-azo dye compared to azo dye. Both the materials show better activity than pristine ZnO. The photocatalyst is found to be environmentally benign with reusability even up to the third cycle of reuse.

中文翻译：

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可见光降解橙G和孔雀石绿染料：双层核壳纳米粒子作为有效的光催化剂

核-壳纳米材料已经成为材料化学和催化领域的前沿领域。在这里，我们探索了一种双层核-壳材料的光催化剂潜力，该材料包含稀土材料作为核，二氧化硅，氧化锌作为后续壳材料。制备的核-壳平均粒径为40-60 nm，材料已通过FTIR，XRD，UV-DRS和FESEM技术进行了表征。制备材料的带隙能量为2.82eV。已经在可见光照射下测试了对Orange-G和孔雀石绿染料的光催化活性。已经阐明了偶氮染料和非偶氮染料降解的比较。已经进行了不同pH，催化剂用量和初始染料浓度的初步研究，以确定光催化活性的最佳参数。动力学研究遵循伪一阶途径。发现所制备的核-壳纳米材料与偶氮染料相比对于降解非偶氮染料是有效的。两种材料均显示出比原始ZnO更好的活性。发现光催化剂在环境上是无害的，甚至在第三次重复使用之前都具有可重复使用性。