Visible-light-activated photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B using WO3 nanoparticles

dc.contributor.authorMzimela, Nompumelelo
dc.contributor.authorTichapondwa, Shepherd Masimba
dc.contributor.authorChirwa, Evans M.N.
dc.contributor.emailevans.chirwa@up.ac.zaen_US
dc.date.accessioned2023-02-06T05:50:33Z
dc.date.available2023-02-06T05:50:33Z
dc.date.issued2022-11
dc.description.abstractSemiconductor photocatalysis is touted to be one of the most efficient and cost-effective methods of degrading organic pollutants in various water matrices. Herein, highly agglomerated WO3 nanoparticles were synthesized via a facile acid precipitation method and tested on rhodamine B dye as the model pollutant. The physicochemical properties of the particles were investigated using various characterization techniques which include X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) and zeta potential measurements. The effects of calcination temperature, initial pH, catalyst loading and initial pollutant concentration were investigated. The results showed that under optimum conditions of 300 °C calcination temperature, 5 g L−1 catalyst loading, 5 ppm initial pollutant concentration and a pH of 9.5, the catalyst achieved an excellent degradation efficiency of 96.1% after 4 h of visible light irradiation. The degradation tests revealed a strong dependence on initial pH with acidic pHs favouring adsorption and alkaline pHs favouring photocatalysis. The degradation kinetics followed the Langmuir–Hinshelwood model for catalyst loadings of less than 10 g L−1, which typically describes heterogenous photocatalytic surface reactions. Scavenging experiments revealed that reactive superoxide and hydroxyl free radicals were the primary drivers for rhodamine B dye degradation.en_US
dc.description.departmentChemical Engineeringen_US
dc.description.librarianam2023en_US
dc.description.urihttp://pubs.rsc.org/en/journals/journalissues/raen_US
dc.identifier.citationMzimela, N., Tichapondwa, S. & Chirwa, E. Visible-light-activated photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B using WO3 nanoparticles. RSC Advances, 2022, 12, pp. 34652–34659, doi : 10.1039/d2ra06124d.en_US
dc.identifier.issn2046-2069
dc.identifier.other10.1039/d2ra06124d
dc.identifier.urihttps://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/89148
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherRoyal Society of Chemistryen_US
dc.rights© 2022 The Author(s). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence.en_US
dc.subjectSemiconductor photocatalysisen_US
dc.subjectWater matricesen_US
dc.subjectDegrading organic pollutantsen_US
dc.subjectRhodamine B dyeen_US
dc.subjectZeta potential measurement.en_US
dc.subjectBrunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET)en_US
dc.subjectTransmission electron microscopy (TEM)en_US
dc.subjectX-ray diffraction (XRD)en_US
dc.subjectScanning electron microscopy (SEM)en_US
dc.titleVisible-light-activated photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B using WO3 nanoparticlesen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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