Ultraviolet‐Driven Photocatalytic Degradation of Rhodamine B Using Ag3PO4 Nanoparticles for Sustainable Catalysis

Abstract

AbstractThe design and development of multifunctional nanomaterials holds the key to unlocking new possibilities in water treatment technologies due to the exceptional properties that emerge at the nanoscale. Here, we demonstrate the photocatalytic efficiency of silver orthophosphate in the UV region choosing Rhodamine B as the pollutant model. To begin with, a simple and scalable route was employed for the synthesis of silver orthophosphate nanoparticles. The cubic phase of the crystallized synthesized nanoparticles is revealed from powder X‐ray diffraction patterns and the optical absorbance exhibited onset of absorption at 522 nm in UV–visible spectrum. The microstructural analysis performed using scanning electron microscopy revealed the size of the particles to be in the range of 200–500 nm. The catalytic efficiency of the silver orthophosphate nanoparticles was assessed by following the kinetics of photocatalytic degradation and is observed to follow pseudo‐first order kinetics with the apparent rate constant min−1. The findings underline the efficiency of silver orthophosphate nanoparticles as a sustainable catalyst in UV region for the photoremediation of water contaminated with organic pollutants.