Schiff-base ligand assisted synthesis of DyVO4/AgBr nanocomposites, characterization, and investigation of photocatalytic activity over organic dye contaminants

Abstract

In the current study, a type-I DyVO4/AgBr heterojunction was prepared by a simple and cost-effective co-precipitation method to obtain a highly efficient photocatalyst for water treatment. The effect of different molar ratios of H2Salen to dysprosium and temperature reaction was studied on the morphology of the products. As a result of the energy savings, the optimal temperature for the preparation of DyVO4 nanoparticles was chosen as 25 °C, and DyVO4/AgBr nanocomposites were prepared at this temperature. The XRD results revealed that DyVO4 and DyVO4/AgBr nanocomposites were pure in all conditions. A comparative study was conducted between the photocatalytic behavior of DyVO4, AgBr, and DyVO4/AgBr under UV and visible radiation. The photodegradation result reveals that DyVO4/AgBr performs better than pure DyVO4 and AgBr. 79.8% and 72.0% of methylene blue (MB) were degraded by DyVO4/AgBr nanocomposites under UV and visible light after 90 min, respectively. The kinetics study depicts that the higher reaction constant rate (k = 0.0187 min−1) belongs to DyVO4/AgBr nanocomposite that has the maximum photodegradation.

Keywords

• DyVO4/AgBr Nanocomposite
• Co-precipitation
• Nanostructures
• UV–Visible Photocatalyst
• Optical degradation