Polyethylene glycol-doped BiZn₂VO₆as a high-efficiency solar-light-activated photocatalyst with substantial durability toward photodegradation of organic contaminations

Abstract

In this study, we focus on a simple, low-priced, and mild condition hydrothermal route to construct BiZn 2 VO 6 nanocompounds (NCs) as a novel photocatalyst with strong solar light absorption ability for environmental purification using solar energy. NCs were further doped with polyethylene glycol (PEG) to improve their photocatalytic efficiency for photodegradation processes through inhibition of fast charge carrier recombination rates and higher charge separation efficiency. Surface morphology, phase structure, optical characteristics, and band structure of the as-prepared samples were analyzed using XRD, EDX, XPS, SEM, UV-vis spectroscopy, CL, and BET techniques. PEG-doped BiZn 2 VO 6 NCs were applied as effective materials to degrade various kinds of organic pollutants including cationic and anionic types, and these NCs exhibited excellent photocatalytic efficiency as compared to traditional photocatalysts. In particular, the PEG-doped BiZn 2 VO 6 (0.10% w/v) photocatalyst exhibited highly enhanced photocatalytic performance with improvements of about 46.4, 28.3, and 7.23 folds compared with PEG-doped ZnO nanorods (NRs), pristine BiVO 4 , and BiZn 2 VO 6 samples, respectively, for the decomposition of congo red (CR) dye. After 40 minutes of sunlight irradiation, 97.4% of CR was decomposed. In this study, scavenging experiments indicated that both hydroxyl radicals and holes play dominant roles in CR photodegradation under simulated solar light irradiation. Meanwhile, the optimal photocatalyst demonstrated good reproducibility and stability for successive cycles of photocatalysis.All chemicals of analytical grade were obtained from Sigma-Aldrich, Germany, and were used without further purication. Also, deionized water was employed for all experiments. This journal isView Article Online a [*]: Xe ¼ xenon, MO ¼ methyl orange, RhB ¼ rhodamine B, MV ¼ methyl violet, TC ¼ tetracycline, TC-HCl ¼ tetracycline hydrochloride, AB 10B ¼ amido black 10B, 4-NP ¼ 4-nitrophenol, MB ¼ methylene blue, CR ¼ congo red.This journal is

Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Decorated Indium Hydroxide Nanocomposite: Synthesis, Characterization and Its Photocatalytic Activity

“…From the results in Table 1, both PVP and In(OH)3 were found to be diamagnetic with negative values obtained for both mass and molar susceptibilities [20,21]. Fe3O4/In(OH)3 nanocomposite was found to have net magnetization evidenced by a significantly larger positive magnetic susceptibility.…”

“…Next, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 mL of the stock solution were added to six 100 mL volumetric flasks respectively and topped up to the mark with distilled water. The standard solutions (5,10,15,20,25, and 30 ppm) were analysed by using UV-vis spectroscopy at 664 nm to establish a calibration curve (see Supporting Information Figure S1).…”