Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye using ZnWO4 catalyst prepared by a simple co-precipitation technique

• Published in: Journal of sol-gel science and technology Vol. 97; no. 3; pp. 572 - 580
• Main Authors: Geetha, G. V., Sivakumar, R., Sanjeeviraja, C., Ganesh, V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.03.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Annealing; Ceramics; Chemical precipitation; Chemistry and Materials Science; colloids; Composites; Coprecipitation; Crystallites; Crystallization; Decomposition; Dispersion; Dyes; Energy bands; Energy gap; etc.; fibers; Glass; Inorganic Chemistry; Light irradiation; Materials Science; Methylene blue; Morphology; Nanoparticles; Nanotechnology; Natural Materials; Optical and Electronic Materials; Original Paper: Nano-structured materials (particles; Photocatalysis; Photodegradation; Reagents; Spherical shells; Synthesis; Ultraviolet radiation; Zinc tungstates; Photocatalytic activity; nanoparticles; ZnWO; Co-precipitation technique; Structural
• ISSN: 0928-0707; 1573-4846
• DOI: 10.1007/s10971-021-05480-7

In the present work, zinc tungstate (ZnWO 4 ) nanoparticles were synthesized by a simple co-precipitation technique without the addition of any templates and complexing agent. The X-ray diffraction study confirmed the formation of monoclinic structure ZnWO 4 . The annealing temperatures play a significant role on the crystallization of the samples and the crystallite size of ZnWO 4 nanoparticles are varied between 30 and 65 nm. The well dispersed spherical solid shells along with nanoplatelet like morphology was obtained from the surface morphological study. The concomitant decrease in optical energy band gap value of ZnWO 4 is due to the effect of crystallite size enhancement. It was observed that the crystallinity is one of the primary factors that affect the luminescence property of ZnWO 4 nanoparticles. The purity and stoichiometric nature of synthesized product was confirmed by compositional analysis. The highest degradation efficiency of 87% was observed for 300 °C annealed ZnWO 4 nanoparticles in the photocatalytic study by the degradation of methylene blue dye under ultraviolet light irradiation. The photocatalytic study confirmed the decomposition of methylene blue after 1 h irradiation. Highlights Pure ZnWO 4 nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by co-precipitation method. The well dispersed spherical solid shells along with nanoplatelet morphology were obtained. The photocatalytic kinetic study confirmed decomposition of MB after 1 hr irradiation. The highest degradation efficiency of 87% was observed for ZnWO4 nanoparticles.