Mesoporous Nano-Sized BiFeVOx.y Phases for Removal of Organic Dyes from Wastewaters by Visible Light Photocatalytic Degradation

Niyazi A S Al-Areqi; Muhamad Umair; Ahmed M Senan; Ahlam Al-Alas; Afraah M A Alfaatesh; Saba Beg; Kashif-Ur-Rehman Khan; Sameh A Korma; Mohamed T El-Saadony; Mohammed A Alshehri; Ahmed Ezzat Ahmed; Ahmed M Abbas; Riyad A Alokab; Ilaria Cacciotti

doi:10.3390/nano12081383

Mesoporous Nano-Sized BiFeVOx.y Phases for Removal of Organic Dyes from Wastewaters by Visible Light Photocatalytic Degradation

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2022 Apr 18;12(8):1383. doi: 10.3390/nano12081383.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Applied Science, Taiz University, Taiz 6803, Yemen.
² Department of Food Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China.
³ Glycomics and Glycan Bioengineering Research Center, School of Food Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002, India.
⁵ Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur 63100, Pakistan.
⁶ Department of Food Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Zagazig 44519, Egypt.
⁷ Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Zagazig 44511, Egypt.
⁸ Department of Biology, College of Science, King Khalid University, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia.
⁹ Department of Theriogenology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, South Valley University, Qena 83523, Egypt.
¹⁰ Department of Botany and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, South Valley University, Qena 83523, Egypt.
¹¹ Department of Engineering, INSTM RU, University of Rome "Niccolò Cusano", Via Don Carlo Gnocchi 3, 00166 Roma, Italy.

Abstract

With an increasing demand for industrial dyes in our daily lives, water conditions have become worse. Recently, the removal of such environmentally hazardous pollutants from wastewaters through photocatalytic degradation has been drawing increased attention. Three mesoporous nanophases of BiFeVOx.y as (Bi₂Fe^IIIV_1-yO_5.5-y) visible light photocatalysts were synthesized in this study using ethylene glycol-citrate sol-gel synthesis combined with microwave- assisted calcination. X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential thermal analysis (DTA), FTIR spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM-EDS), nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms, and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry (UV-Vis/DRS) were used to characterize the BiFeVOx.y photocatalysts. The visible light-induced photocatalytic activities of the BiFeVOx.y phases were evaluated by the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye in aqueous solution at pH ~10.0. The results of this study show that the combination of doping strategy with the utilization of advanced synthesis methods plays an important role in improving the structure and surface properties of BiFeVOx.y phases, and thereby enhancing their adsorption and photocatalytic efficiencies. The synthesized mesoporous tetragonal γ-BiFeVOx.y nanophase has been proven to be a potential visible-light photocatalyst for the degradation of organic dyes.

Keywords: BiFeVOx; adsorption; dye degradation; mesopores; photocatalyst; photodegradation; waste water.

Abstract

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