Cuttlefish bone stabilized Ag3VO4 nanocomposite and its Y2O3-decorated form: Waste-to-value development of efficiently ecofriendly visible-light-photoactive and biocidal agents for dyeing, bacterial and larvae depollution of Egypt's wastewater

• Published in: Journal of photochemistry and photobiology. A, Chemistry. Vol. 401; p. 112749
• Main Authors: Darwish, Atef S., Sayed, Mostafa A., Shebl, Ahmed
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.10.2020
• Subjects: Biocidal activity; Cuttlefish bone; Photocatalytic degradation; Silver vanadate; Yttria quantum dots; Biocidal activity; Photocatalytic degradation; Cuttlefish bone; Yttria quantum dots; Silver vanadate
• ISSN: 1010-6030; 1873-2666
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jphotochem.2020.112749

(A)Cuttlefish bone-stabilized hollow α-Ag3VO4 nanospheres as efficient photocatalyst under green-light irradiation. (B)Yttria-decorated (cuttlefish bone-stabilized α-Ag3VO4) as superb biocide against bacteria and larvae. [Display omitted] •Cuttlefish bone succeeds in stabilizing hollow α-Ag3VO4 nanospheres onto aragonite lamellae.•Decorating α-Ag3VO4/aragonite by yttria quantum-dots boosts silver vanadates aggregation.•Aragonite-stabilized α-Ag3VO4 is a typical eco-friendly photocatalyst for dye degradation.•Yttria-decorated α-Ag3VO4/cuttlefish bone is a highly potent bactericide and larvicide. Cuttlefish bone (CFB) successfully stabilizes highly-negatively charged hollow α-Ag3VO4 nanospheres (19 nm) over its aragonite-layers, and sequentially subjects for decoration with yttria (Y) quantum dot-like particles (QDs). Carmine indigo (CI) dye, Escherichia Coli bacteria and Culex pipiens larvae are chosen as urgent-target pollutants in Egypt's wastewater. Such nanocomposites are examined as photocatalysts for CI degradation, bactericides and larvicides. Ag3VO4/CFB exhibits highly-sounded photocatalytic efficiency (∼97 %) of 1.5 times higher than Y@Ag3VO4/CFB with turning of light-irradiation from UV- to green-light level. Such visible-light-driven photocatalyst generates plenty of electron-hole pairs of developed separation efficiency and transference, governing direct hole oxidation pathway for CI (∼95 % mineralization) with efficient consecutive 6 cycles. Y@Ag3VO4/CFB is seeded as topgallant eco-friendly biocide displaying efficiencies near 100 %. Such lethal effect regards to firm-binding of decorated-yttria QDs to aragonite-layers, encouraging formation of large-sized silver vanadates (70 nm) allowing biological activity of vanadate ions to potentially contribute in the bio-killing act.