Ternary Photodegradable Nanocomposite (BiOBr/ZnO/WO₃) for the Degradation of Phenol Pollutants: Optimization and Experimental Design

Abstract

The degradation of environmental contaminants with photocatalysts has bright prospects for application in the control of pollution. In this study, BiOBr/ZnO/WO 3 heterojunctions have been documented to be reliable visible-light photocatalysts for phenol deterioration. X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, photoluminescence spectral analysis, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), EIS Bode plots, linear sweep voltammetry, and UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy were employed to describe the heterojunction’s structure in addition to its optical features. The results revealed that the BiOBr/ZnO/WO 3 ternary photocatalyst displayed more degradation activity in comparison to single-phase ZnO, WO 3 , or BiOBr, which is also higher than that of binary mixture photocatalysts with a phenol degradation efficiency of 90%. The influence of degradation variables, for instance, the potential of hydrogen (pH) and the initial organic contaminant content besides the heterojunction dose, on the deterioration efficiency was optimized using the response surface methodology. The degradation efficiency reached 95% under the optimal conditions of 0.08 g/0.03 L catalyst dose, a pH of 9, and an initial organic contaminant content of 10 mg L –1 . However, the optimal phenol degradation efficiency of 39.37 mg g –1 was achieved under the conditions of 0.08 g/0.03 L catalyst dose, pH of 9, and 200 mg L –1 initial phenol concentration.

Recent and Emerging Trends in Remediation of Methylene Blue Dye from Wastewater by Using Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles

“…Heterogeneous photocatalysts are solids that can promote catalytic reactions in the presence of light without being consumed in the process [77]. TiO 2 , ZnO, SnO 2 , ZrO 2 , SiO 2 , WO 3 , CeO 2 , and other semiconductor materials are employed in photocatalytic reactions and can be used as photocatalysts because of their capacity to decolorize dye-containing wastewater [78,79]. Out of all of them, ZnO emerges as one of the best photocatalysts due to its unique physicochemical properties.…”

Preparation of New Sm-Doped CuO/ZnO/CuMn2O4 Tri-Composite for Photoremoval of Dissolved Organic Waste and Dielectric-Energy Storage

“…Based on coupling between different oxides in ternary composites, a new strategy has emerged to improve the photoresponse and increase the harvesting of visible light spectrum, as well as support the separation of the charge carriers which trigger photocatalytic efficiency [22][23][24]. Ali et al [25] studied the photocatalytic properties of BiOBr/ZnO/WO 3 ternary nanocomposites for degradation of phenol. The authors found that this composite has a degradation efficiency of 90% for 50 mg/L phenol under visible-light illumination for 300 min.…”

Novel Type-II Heterojunction Binary Composite (CdS/AgI) with Outstanding Visible Light-Driven Photocatalytic Performances toward Methyl Orange and Tetracycline Hydrochloride

“…However, synthesizing visible light active semiconductor materials is not sufficient as the recombination rate of charge carriers is very high due to the small band gap energy . This problem was addressed using various strategies, such as doping metals and nonmetals, , co-depositing metals on semiconductor surfaces, − and coupling of two or more semiconductors to create binary , and ternary , heterojunctions. A key strategy in photocatalytic processes for pollutant degradation is the construction of type-II heterostructure composite photocatalysts by coupling appropriate semiconductors. , …”