Hydrothermal processing of interfacial BiCeO3/MWCNTs photocatalyst for rapid dye degradation and its biological interest

Abstract

In this research, the BiCeO3/MWCNTs (BCM) nanocomposite was synthesized successfully by homogeneous precipitation method followed by cost effective hydrothermal reaction. The physical and photocatalytic properties of nanocomposite have been characterized by advanced analytical techniques such as X-ray diffractometer (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX), Dynamic Light Scatter (DLS) and Thermo-gravimetric analyzer (TGA). The studies revealed properties like crystallinity, morphology, elemental percentage, particle size distribution and mass loss, respectively. Band gap energy and optical properties were analyzed by UV–vis diffuse reflectance (UV–vis DR) spectrophotometer for the photocatalytic degradation of Mordant red 3 dye solution using synthesized BCM photocatalyst. The interfacial adhesion between Bi-Ce in BiCeO3/MWCNTs nanocomposite showed strong visible light absorption capacity, high stability and high charge separation properties. During photocatalytic degradation, the electrons were injected from Bi-Ce to MWCNTs surfaces which decrease the electron-hole recombination process and influence the fast degradation (5 min) with high efficiency (95%). Therefore, the photocatalytic efficiency of BCM nanocomposite was elucidated with an expectation to obtain a promising photocatalyst under visible light irradiation. The excellent biocompatibility studies of Musmusculus skin melanoma cells (B16-F10) were systematically achieved. This work offers the opportunity of constructing efficient photocatalyst with excellent biology to a safer environment.