Fabrication and photocatalytic degradation of reactive blue 19 by CuWO4, Ag3PO4, and CuWO4-Ag3PO4 composites under visible light irradiation

CuWO4 nano-powder was synthesized via a hydrothermal reaction usingCuCl2.2H2O and Na2WO4.2H2O in the stoichiometric 1:1 Cu:W molar ratio andsodium citrate as raw materials. Also, Ag3PO4 was synthesized by a precipitationmethod using Na2HPO4 and AgNO3. Finally, CuWO4-Ag3PO4 nanocompositewas synthesized in a precipitation route using the as-synthesized CuWO4 andAg3PO4 as raw materials. The synthesized materials were characterized by thepowder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) technique. In order to investigate the effect ofconcentration of the Basic solutions on the obtained materials,morphology, thesynthesized materials’ morphologies were studied by field emission scanningelectron microscopy (FESEM) technique. As shown by the FESEM images, theCuWO4 material morphology was spherical particles. Besides, the photocatalyticperformance of the as-synthesized nanocomposites was studied for thedegradation of Reactive Blue 19 (RB19) under direct visible light irradiation. Forthis purpose, several reaction parameters that affect the degradation yield, suchas catalyst amount, pH value, and absence/presence of light, were investigated.The results indicate the higher photocatalytic yield at the presence of lightirradiation when the solution’s pH value was in the acidic range and the weightpercent of silver phosphate in the composite mixture and the catalyst amountwas more. The information revealed that a 0.05 g nanocomposite containing0.24 mmole of Ag3PO4, with an initial pH of 3 and 100 mL of RB 19 with 30 mg/Lconcentration, approximately after 30 min, could remove completely undervisible light illumination.