Degradation of methyl blue dye under direct sunlight irradiation using cesium-substituted Dawson heteropolyanion photocatalyst

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ABSTRACT Metal oxide nanoparticles have emerged as promising photocatalysts for wastewater treatment applications. Particularly, heteropolyanions (HPAs) have shown promise for the degradation of organic pollutants; however, their efficacy in dye removal remains insufficiently explored. This investigation focuses on the degradation of Methyl Blue (MB), a highly water-soluble, environmentally persistent acidic dye prevalent in textile industries, using a Dawson-type heteropolyanion with cesium substitution (HCs5P2W18O62·16H2O or Cs-HPA) as an innovative photocatalyst. This dye was selected due to its adverse environmental impacts stemming from industrial discharges. The novel catalyst was characterized through a variety of techniques including FT-IR, 31P NMR, XRD, SEM-EDX, and UV-visible spectroscopy. Batch experiments were conducted to assess the effects of variables such as photocatalyst dosage, initial MB concentration H2O2, concentration, and the presence of inorganic anions on the degradation efficiency. A remarkable degradation efficiency of 98% for MB was achieved within 90 min under solar irradiation. These findings underscore the potential of HPAs as highly effective photocatalysts for purifying dye-contaminated wastewater, suggesting that the catalyst synthesis method and the photocatalytic system could be optimized and scaled up for broader environmental remediation applications.