Ultrasound-assisted synthesis of YbVO4 nanostructure and YbVO4/CuWO4 nanocomposites for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes under visible light

Abstract

YbVO₄ nanostructure and YbVO₄/CuWO₄ nanocomposites were successfully synthesized using sonochemical method, for the first time. In this disquisition, we tried to compare various parameters and reaction conditions on size, morphology, and uniformity of as-obtained samples. To reach optimum condition, some parameters including time, power, temperature, and solvent were investigated. The structural, morphological, optical, and magnetic properties of as-obtained products were characterized by some techniques such as FT-IR, XRD, EDS, SEM, TEM, UV-Vis, and VSM. Furthermore, due to occurrence of red shift in nonanocomposite, during the coupling of CuWO₄ into YbVO₄, photocatalytic and optical properties of final products were improved which lead to improve photo-destruction efficiency for methylene blue from 65% to 100%, during 120 min irradiation. The effect of the ultrasonic radiation on the photocatalytic behavior of YbVO₄/CuWO₄ shows that methylene blue pollutant destruction was about 100% with ultrasonic wave and 61% in the absence of ultrasonic radiation.

Keywords: Photocatalyst; Sonochemical method; Visible light; YbVO(4) nanostructure; YbVO(4)/CuWO(4) nanocomposites.