pH mediated simple synthesis of AgVO₃ nanomaterials for degradation of industrial waste

This research work reports the synthesis of Silver Vanadium oxide (AgVO₃) by varying the pH (6%, 7%, 8%, 9% and 10%) using simple hydrothermal technique. The bandgap energy of AgVO₃ is tuned to ∼ 2.21 eV while controlling the morphology in the form of nano-rods and belts shape results into α-crystalline phase. It is worth mentioning that desirous bandgap corresponds to the visible spectrum of the solar light being abundantly available and finds many applications in real life. The synthesized samples were characterized by Ultra-Violet/Visible (UV/Vis) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy. Investigation of characterizations reveals that diameter of the nano-rods and belts are in the range from 50 to 80 nm which is primarily dependent on the value of the pH. The photocatalytic activity of synthesized nanomaterials has been performed by degradation of real industrial pollutant obtained from Leather Field Industry. The prepared samples successfully degraded the industrial pollutant in 02 h under visible light irradiation having minimum degradation efficiency (56%) of AgVO₃ for pH-06 (sample prepared with) and maximum efficiency (78%) for the sample (prepared by) pH-09. This maximum photocatalytic efficiency attributes to a reduced recombination of photo-generated charge carriers. A very small decrease in degradation efficiency of photocatalyst for industrial waste during five successive cycles demonstrates confirming the reusability, good recyclability, of catalyst. As a result, AgVO₃ can be employed as a possible photocatalyst for the disintegration of industrial waste, which is direly needed at this time.