Structural, thermal, optical, morphological, electrical, and photocatalytic characteristics of silver-doped bismuth oxide synthesized by the green route

Abstract

Herein, silver-doped bismuth oxide compositions with different dopant percentages (0 %, 3 %, 5 %, and 7 %) were synthesized at the nanoscale via the green route. The optical study and photoluminescence spectroscopic analysis proposed the bismuth oxide sample doped with 5 % Ag (ABO-5 %), owing to its lower band gap and lower charge recombination aptitude, as the most potential composition. The synergistic effect of nanotechnology and silver doping on the sample's thermal, optical, morphological, electrical, and photocatalytic properties was investigated in detail. X-ray and infrared spectroscopy tests on pure bismuth oxide (BO) and its most potential doped composition (ABO-5 %), show that silver ions took the place of the host metal ions (Bi3+ ions) and made the parent lattice's structure defective. Doping leads to a decrease in particle size, confirmed by morphological examination. Furthermore, it has been shown that adding an Ag dopant has a beneficial impact on improving electrical conductivity, as the ABO-5 % composition (2.3 × 10−3 Sm−1) possessed a higher specific electrical conductivity than the BO (6.7 × 10−4 Sm−1). These variations enhance the photocatalytic aptitude of the ABO-5 % composition and enable it to mineralize 92 % of Eosin Y (EY) dye within a short exposure time of 49 min under W-lamp illumination. ABO-5 % composition also showed superb stability and restrained 97.2 % EY dye mineralization efficiency after four reusability tests. The scavenging experiment identified the *OH radical as the most potent, while holes were shown to be the least effective in the EY dye degradation process. The new, environmentally friendly ABO-5 % composition would help with future progress in cleaning up the environment by using a photocatalyst.