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Experimental and Theoretical Verification of WO3 Based Nanocomposites for Their Application as Efficient Photo Catalyst for Treatment of Industrial Wastewater

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Abstract

In this research work, CuS and WO3 nanoparticles were synthesized by a simple, facile and effective hydrothermal method followed by the fabrication of nanocomposites of 10, 12 & 14% CuS:WO3. The prepared samples were characterized by various characterization techniques including X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–Visible (UV–vis), photoluminescence (PL), Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) for the confirmation and investigation of fabricated nanocomposites. The particle size of fabricated WO3 was 46.01 nm which was reduced to 37.14 nm for 14% CuS:WO3 sample. Additionally, UV visible and PL analysis confirmed the suppression of band gap (2.61 to 2.25 eV) and photogenerated electron/hole pair respectively. Photocatalytic activity of as prepared nanocomposites was investigated under visible light irradiation against rhodamine B (RhB) dye. Quite interestingly, the photodegradation efficiency of 14% CuS-WO3 is 94.91% which is much higher as compared to pure WO3 which attributes to the smaller particle size and bad gap energy which enables the efficient utilization of visible light leading to the generation of reactive species. Reusability experiments confirmed the photostability of samples and pH tests have also been conducted to investigate the optimum pH for degradation reaction. For investigation of complete mineralization of RhB dye from contaminated water, TOC analysis has been conducted. Additionally, RF module of COMOSL Multiphysics 5.3a has been used to simulate a 2D model to correlated the experiment with the theoretical results for better understanding.

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Acknowledgements

The Authors would like to thank Scientific Research Deanship at Ha’il University- Saudi Arabia for financial support of this project through Project Number RG-20119.

Funding

Scientific Research Deanship at Ha’il University- Saudi Arabia,RG-20119

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Author notes

  1. Maria Ashraf, Tahir Iqbal and Arslan Masood have equally contributed to this article.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Gujrat, Hafiz Hayat Campus, Gujrat, 50700, Pakistan

    Maria Ashraf, Tahir Iqbal, Arslan Masood & Muhammad Salim Mansha

  2. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Ha’il, Hail, Saudi Arabia

    Najat Masood, Faiza I. A. Abdella & Walaa I. El-Sofany

  3. Department of Marine Chemistry and Pollution, Faculty of Marine Science and Environment, Hodeidah University, Hodeidah, Yemen

    Najat Masood & Sami M. Magam

  4. Photochemistry Department, Chemical Industries Research Institute, National Research Centre, Scopus Affiliation ID 60014618, 33 EL Buhouth St., Dokki, Giza, 12622, Egypt

    Walaa I. El-Sofany

  5. Basic Science Department, Preparatory Year, University of Ha’il, Hail, 1560, Saudi Arabia

    Sami M. Magam

  6. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Gujrat, Hafiz Hayat Campus, Gujrat, 50700, Pakistan

    Mubeen Arif

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  1. Maria Ashraf
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Contributions

MA contributed towards conceptualization, methodology and initial draft. TI contributed in formal analysis, supervision and review of final draft whereas AM, NM, FIAA, WIE-S and SMM contributed for experimental investigation, formal analysis and validation. MA and MSM contributed for review and editing of final draft.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Tahir Iqbal, Arslan Masood or Najat Masood.

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Competing interests

The Authors would like to thank Scientific Research Deanship at Ha’il University- Saudi Arabia for financial support of this project through Project Number RG-20119

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Ashraf, M., Iqbal, T., Masood, A. et al. Experimental and Theoretical Verification of WO3 Based Nanocomposites for Their Application as Efficient Photo Catalyst for Treatment of Industrial Wastewater. J Inorg Organomet Polym 33, 2537–2551 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10904-023-02705-w

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