NdCoO3 nanostructures as promising candidate photocatalysts for boosting visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants

Abstract

In this research, a perovskite-type neodymium cobaltite (NdCoO3) was successfully fabricated by a facile and affordable co-precipitation method. Different surfactants and solvents, such as ethylene glycol, water, and ethanol, were also applied throughout this preparation for morphological studies. The outcomes demonstrated that homogenous morphology was obtained in the presence of ethylene glycol and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) with an average diameter of 51.8 nm. Based on the results of UV-Vis spectroscopy, NdCoO3 has a relevant bandgap (2.84 eV) associated with the visible region and can be used as a catalyst in the photodegradation procedure. The photocatalytic performance data showed that this compound has a high ability to degrade cationic (malachite green 79.7%) and anionic (phenol red 75.2%) dyes in high value. We investigated the effect of several parameters, such as dye types, dye concentration, and Nd2O3 as a by-product on the efficiency. The scavenger test has shown that •O2− plays a major role in degradation. The kinetic studies have shown that the higher reaction rate constants (k = 0.013 min−1) provide the best photocatalytic performance.

Keywords

• Water pollution
• Perovskite material
• Co-precipitation
• Rare-earth cobaltite nanostructures
• Organic dyes