The Effects of ZnO Colloidal Particles on Photochemical Decomposition of DOM in Water Bodies

Abstract

Dissolved organic matters, abbreviated as DOM, are indispensable parts in every water bodies, and are a main cause of most pollutions. In this research, UVVis spectrometry is used to measure the change in absorbance of the water samples collected from Sanhe Lake, Yunliang River and a pond(all in Nanjing) with different concentrations of ZnO colloids under the 300 W mercury light, and therefore use the absorbance calculated out to determine the rate and efficiency of photochemical decomposition to find out the extent of catalyzing effect of ZnO colloids on decomposing such DOM. After a series of experiments, we found out that ZnO works as a great catalyst in decomposing DOM. Its effect will differ a little bit depending on the type of water body. We think it can be taken as an effective way of tackling organic contamination issues.