Effect of La3+-doping in silver niobate for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue and Rhodamine B

Abstract

Photocatalysis can be used in water remediation, by which, toxic pollutants are removed from the water and converted into harmless products. In this study, silver niobate and 1% to 10% La-doped silver niobates were synthesized by the sol-gel method. FESEM studies showed that the morphology of the photocatalysts changed from prism-like to small cube-like particles with increasing La-doping. Also, the EDX mapping confirms the presence of Ag, Nb, and La within the silver niobate and La-doped silver niobates. XRD analysis verified the presence of AgNbO3 and AgNb3O8 in the samples. Furthermore, results from the Tauc plots showed that La-doping resulted in a slight decrease in band gap energy as compared to the silver niobate. The photocatalytic properties of the silver niobate and La-doped silver niobates were investigated for the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue and Rhodamine B dyes. It was shown from the experiment that La-doping can improve the photocatalytic performance of the silver niobate.

Keywords

• Silver niobates
• La-doped silver niobates
• Photocatalysts
• Photocatalysis
• Visible light-active materials