Efficient photodegradation of Victoria Blue B and Acridine Orange dyes by nickel oxide nanoparticles

Abstract

Nickel oxide (NiO) nanoparticle has been conveniently prepared by solution combustion method using urea as a fuel. Characterization of NiO nanoparticles has been performed by XRD, SEM with EDX, TEM, BET surface area determination, and UV-absorption spectroscopy. The band gap of the nanoparticle is 3.08 eV and average size of the nanoparticle is 26 nm, and the nanoparticles exhibited a cubic structure. Further, TEM confirms the average size is<35 nm. The synthesized nanoparticle has been successfully used against Victoria Blue B (VBB) and Acridine Orange (AO) dye degradation under natural solar irradiation by varying catalyst concentration, pH, and initial dye concentration. The prepared NiO nanoparticles showed excellent photocatalytic degradation of VBB and AO. The degradation efficiency was assessed by varying catalyst concentration, solution pH, and dye concentration. We obtained a high percentage of photodegradation at 1 × 10-4 mol/dm3 dye concentration and pH 4 for both dyes.