Titanium dioxide nanoparticle and gold nanoaparticle-catalyzed photooxidation of calcofluor white, coumarin, and rhodamine B dyes in ethanol with chitosan immobilizers

Some dyes undergo photooxidation reactions in the presence of ultraviolet radiation. Nanoparticles such as titanium dioxide (TiO2) and gold can catalyze these reactions, and they can be immobilized on compounds such as chitosan. Coumarin (neutral), calcofluor white (negatively-charged), and rhodamine B (positively-charged) were the three dyes used in this experiment. The chitosan-immobilized catalysts most successfully catalyzed the coumarin photooxidation and least successfully-catalyzed the rhodamine B photodegredation.