A novel synthesis of Co2ZrO5 and m-ZrO2 nanoparticles by sono-precipitation and hydrothermal methods and their application in UV/Visible-photocatalytic studies

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Abstract This work is the first report concerning synthesis of cobalt (III) zirconate NPs. Cobalt zirconate nanoparticles are synthesized by both hydrothermal and sono-precipitation method. The catalytic performance of these nanoparticles is compared with cobalt oxide nanoparticles and m-ZrO2 nanoparticles. The physicochemical properties of the nanoparticles are characterized by XRD, FTIR, EDX, SEM and elemental mapping. Band gap changes are assessed using Diffuse Reflection Spectroscopy (DRS). Studies of DRS show that cobalt in the Co2ZrO5 structure only has octahedral structure which created in the effect of ligand-to- metal charge transfer (O2− to Co3+). It is found that the band gap for cobalt zirconate nanoparticles increased compared to cobalt oxide. These nanoparticles are used for analytical studies and it is shown that cobalt zirconate nanoparticles, unlike cobalt oxide and m-ZrO2 NPs have remarkable photocatalytic activity for the degradation of organic dyes such as methylene blue and murexide. The degradation process is performed under UV and visible irradiation. The results show that these nanoparticles have photocatalytic activity even under visible irradiation. Parameters affecting the photocatalytic degradation are checked out for each dye. Studies have shown that the degradation rate follows pseudo-first order kinetics. Finally, recoverability and reusability of the cobalt zirconate catalyst are analyzed.