Mesoporous NiO/Ni2O3 nanoflowers for favorable visible light photocatalytic degradation of 4-chlorophenol

Lalitha Gnanasekaran; Devaraj Manoj; Saravanan Rajendran; F Gracia; A A Jalil; Wei-Hsin Chen; Matias Soto-Moscoso; M A Gracia-Pinilla

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2023.116790

Mesoporous NiO/Ni₂O₃ nanoflowers for favorable visible light photocatalytic degradation of 4-chlorophenol

Environ Res. 2023 Nov 1;236(Pt 2):116790. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.116790. Epub 2023 Jul 29.

Authors

Lalitha Gnanasekaran¹, Devaraj Manoj², Saravanan Rajendran³, F Gracia⁴, A A Jalil⁵, Wei-Hsin Chen⁶, Matias Soto-Moscoso⁷, M A Gracia-Pinilla⁸

Affiliations

¹ Departamento de Ingeniería Mecánica, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de Tarapacá, Avda. General Velásquez 1775, Arica, Chile; University Centre for Research & Development, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chandigarh University, Mohali, Punjab, 140413, India.
² Department of Chemistry, Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, Coimbatore, 641021, Tamil Nadu, India; Centre for Material Chemistry, Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, Coimbatore, 641021, Tamil Nadu, India.
³ Departamento de Ingeniería Mecánica, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de Tarapacá, Avda. General Velásquez 1775, Arica, Chile. Electronic address: saravanan3.raj@gmail.com.
⁴ Department of Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology and Materials, University of Chile, Beauchef 851, 6th Floor, Santiago, Chile.
⁵ Centre of Hydrogen Energy, Institute of Future Energy, 81310, UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia; Faculty of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.
⁶ Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, 701, Taiwan; Research Center for Smart Sustainable Circular Economy, Tunghai University, Taichung, 407, Taiwan; Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Chin-Yi University of Technology, Taichung, 411, Taiwan.
⁷ Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Chile.
⁸ Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Facultad de Ciencias Físico-Matemáticas, Av. Universidad, Cd. Universitaria, San Nicolás de los Garza, NL, Mexico; University of Twente, Mesoscale Chemical System, MESA+ Institute, Enschede 7500AE, The Netherlands.

PMID: 37517483
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.116790

Abstract

The present study highlights the treatment of industrial effluent, which is one of the most life-threatening factors. Herein, for the first time, two types of NiO (green and black) photocatalysts were prepared by facile chemical precipitation and thermal decomposition methods separately. The synthesized NiO materials were demonstrated with various instrumental techniques for finding their characteristics. The X-ray diffraction studies (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed the presence of Ni₂O₃ in black NiO material. The transmission electron microscopic (TEM) images engrained the nanospherical shaped green NiO and nanoflower shaped black NiO/Ni₂O₃ materials. Further, the band gap of black NiO nanoflower was 2.9 eV compared to green NiO having 3.8 eV obtained from UV-vis spectroscopy. Meanwhile, both NiO catalysts were employed for visible light degradation, which yields a 60.3% efficiency of black NiO comparable to a 4.3% efficiency of green NiO within 180 min of exposure. The higher degrading efficiency of black NiO was due to the presence of Ni₂O₃ and the development of pores, which was evident from the Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) method. Type IV hysteresis was observed in black NiO nanoflowers with high surface area and pore size measurements. This black NiO/Ni₂O₃ synthesized from the thermal decomposition method has promoted better photocatalytic degradation of 4-chlorophenol upon exposure to visible light and is applicable for other industrial pollutants.

Keywords: 4-Chlorophenol.; Black nickel oxide; Mesopores; Nanoflowers; Thermal decomposition.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Catalysis
Chlorophenols* / chemistry
Light*
Spectrum Analysis

Substances

4-chlorophenol
Chlorophenols