Photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes by U3MnO10 nanoparticles under UV and sunlight

Abstract

Herein, U3MnO10 bimetal oxide particles were prepared by co-precipitation method alongside pure metal oxides (MnO2 and U3O8). The prepared samples were characterized by XRD, SEM and FTIR techniques. The XRD and FTIR results elucidated thatU3MnO10sample was composed of a mixture of MnO2 and U3O8 crystals. The MnO2, U3O8 and U3MnO10 bimetal oxide were used as photocatalysts in the degradation of four toxic organic dyes. The photocatalytic results showed that the U3MnO10 bimetal oxide had higher photocatalytic activity than pure MnO2 and U3O8 oxides. The better activity of U3MnO10 bimetal oxide was related to its porous structure, large surface area, well crystalline structure and low band gap. The band gap value calculated by Tauc plot was found to be 2.4 eV for U3MnO10bimetal oxide. The percent degradation rate shows that bromothymol blue is degraded faster than acid black, rhodamine b and crystal voilet. The reaction kinetic studies reveal that bromothymol blue showed the faster degradation rate with a rate constant of 0.02 min−1.