Characterization of the piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate catalyzed degradation of rhodamine B and methylene blue dyes by smartphone-based colorimetry

Abstract

A typical catalytic process has been demonstrated for the well-known piezoelectric material lead zirconate titanate (PbZT). An easy and economical smartphone-based system is used to quantify the piezocatalytic degradation of the rhodamine B (RhB) and methylene blue (MB) dyes. Colorimetry is used for determining the unknown concentrations of the dyes during the piezocatalytic degradation. The values using smartphone-based colorimetry were compared with those obtained with a conventional spectrophotometer. The values obtained with the smartphone and the spectrophotometer were in good agreement. Almost 86% of RhB and 73% of MB were degraded by the PbZT piezocatalyst in 90 min during sonication.

Keywords:

• Colorimetry
• lead zirconate titanate
• methylene blue
• piezocatalysis
• rhodamine B
• smartphone
• spectrophotometry

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.