High-Performance Ceramic/WO3 Nanocomposites for Sustainable Aniline Blue Wastewater Remediation

Abstract

Due to the widespread manufacture and use of synthetic dyes worldwide, water contamination by these substances is a serious concern. Among the several approaches to tackle this problem, Advanced Oxidation Process, in which photocatalytic substances break down the dyes into non-toxic minerals by releasing Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) like superoxide and hydroxyl radicals in suspension. However, in order to activate this process, visible or UV light is needed. In this study, we synthesized the WO3 doped sodium calcium based silicate ceramic by solid state reaction method and investigated their structural, optical and morphological properties. A small shift in peak intensity was found by XRD analysis, suggesting lattice deformation brought on by WO3 doping. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed homogeneous, evenly distributed nanoparticles. UV-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis) indicated a redshift in absorption, lowering the bandgap and boosting visible-light absorption. The catalytic performance of ceramic material was studied for the degradation of aniline blue dye using visible light source. It was observed that doped material enhance catalytic performance to degrade 50 ppm dye solution with 10 mg catalyst in 60 min under visible light source. The reductive degradation efficiency of WO3 doped ceramics is 63.1% which higher than the pristine.  

Keywords: Aniline blue dye, Advanced Oxidation Process, Photocatalytic, Reactive oxygen species