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Superior functionality of niobium pentoxide nano-rod/tripod photocatalyst synthesized using polyethyleneimine as a soft template for the abatement of methylene blue under UV and visible irradiation

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Abstract

Polyethyleneimine (PEI) capping agent-cum-template-mediated synthesis of niobium oxide nanoparticles is reported to explore its impact on the resultant morphology, porosity, crystallinity, phase complexation, and thus on the photocatalytic activity. The resultant niobium oxides calcined at 800°C and 1000°C crystallized into highly ordered nano-rod/tripod nanostructure with inter-rod angle <120° having orthorhombic phase and heavily agglomerated rod-like nanostructures having monoclinic crystal phase, respectively. Contrary to the expectations, the nano-rod/tripods showed superior photocatalytic degradation kinetics and high adsorption of methylene blue dye in the hydrocolloid than formerly reported monoclinic nanoparticles. The best adsorption capability and photocatalytic activity are observed for the sample calcined at 800°C, resulting in a combined degradation efficiency of 98.8% of methylene blue dye. The adsorption characteristics, stability of the hydrocolloid system, the existence of oxygen vacancies, and the distinct morphology of the photocatalytic nano-rod/tripods are mainly responsible for this behavior. The process and the performance of unique nanostructure over others presents a superior alternative.

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Funding

This study received financial support provided by MHRD, New Delhi, to the Centre for Excellence in Green and Efficient Energy Technology (CoE-GEET). N.K and K G would like to acknowledge Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (Govt. of India) for the support provided in terms of National Renewable Energy fellowship. NK would also like to acknowledge Material Research Centre, Malaviya National Institute of Technology (MNIT) Jaipur for FESEM and Zeta potential instrumentation facility and SICART Anand, Gujrat for TEM facility and UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research, Indore for XPS facility.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Excellence in Green and Efficient Energy Technology, Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi, Jharkhand, 835205, India

    Neha Kumari, Sanjoy Kumar Samdarshi & Kumar Gaurav

  2. Department of Energy Engineering, Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi, Jharkhand, 835205, India

    Neha Kumari, Sanjoy Kumar Samdarshi, Kumar Gaurav & Arnab S. Bhattacharyya

  3. Department of Physics, Institute of Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, 221005, India

    Ranjana Verma

  4. Department of Nanotechnology, Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi, Jharkhand, 835205, India

    Arnab S. Bhattacharyya

  5. Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, Assam, 781039, India

    Kaustubha Mohanty

  6. University Grant Commission Department of Atomic Energy, Consortium for Scientific Research (UGC-DAE CSR), Indore, Madhya Pradesh, 452001, India

    Uday Deshpande

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  1. Neha Kumari
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  4. Kumar Gaurav
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Neha Kumari, Sanjoy Kumar Samdarshi, Kumar Gaurav, Arnab S. Bhattacharyya, Ranjana Verma Uday Deshpande, and Kaustubha Mohanty. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Neha Kumari and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Sanjoy Kumar Samdarshi.

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Supplementary information

ESM 1

Lattice constant of the crystal structure (Table S1), Band gap calculation formula using Kubelka-Munk equation. (Equation S.1), (Fig.S.1), FESEM images of pN80 and pN100 catalyst (Fig S.2), particle size distribution using image J software plotted from TEM (Fig S.3), C1s spectra for both the samples (Fig S.4), Equation S.2 (a) pseudo 1st order and(b) pseudo 2nd order adsorption kinetics, Equation S.3 percentage adsorption formula. (DOCX 996 kb)

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Kumari, N., Samdarshi, S.K., Verma, R. et al. Superior functionality of niobium pentoxide nano-rod/tripod photocatalyst synthesized using polyethyleneimine as a soft template for the abatement of methylene blue under UV and visible irradiation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 122458–122469 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-31001-w

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