Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2022) 137: 825
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-022-02998-9

Regular Article

Ag@AgCl/Cu²⁺-Bi₂O₃ nanocomposite for decontamination of Rhodamine B: adsorption, kinetics, thermodynamics, and photocatalytic aspects

¹ Department of Chemistry, Maharshi Dayanand University, 124001, Rohtak, India
² Centre for Nanostructures and Advanced Materials, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), 0001, Pretoria, South Africa
³ Department of Chemistry, University of the Western Cape, Robert Sobukwe Drive, Bag X17, 7535, Bellville, South Africa
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Baba Mastnath University, 124001, Rohtak, India
⁵ Department of Chemistry, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science & Technology, 125001, Hisar, India

^g naveenkumar.chem@mdurohtak.ac.in

Received: 29 April 2022
Accepted: 23 June 2022
Published online: 17 July 2022

Abstract

A novel Ag@AgCl decorated Cu²⁺- Bi₂O₃ nanocomposite was successfully constructed by fastening Ag and AgCl nanocrystals onto the surface of Cu²⁺- Bi₂O₃ nanoparticles via the simple precipitation-deposition process. The synthesized products were characterized thoroughly by using different techniques; in terms of their structural features (XRD), morphological characteristics (SEM), constitutional elements (EDX and XPS), optical (UVDRS and PL), chemical bonding (FTIR), and photocatalytic properties. Highly crystalline and pure compounds were indicated by the XRD analysis. The SEM, EDX, and XPS analysis confirmed the flake-like morphology, high purity, and constitutional elements with their chemical states in the as-synthesized sample. The optical band gap energies (3.33–3.59 ev) were estimated with UV–Vis DRS analysis and PL spectra were recorded to analyze the fluorescence emission. The adsorption and catalytic performance of the prepared catalysts were tested for model organic pollutant RhB dye. Adsorption aspects were studied in terms of adsorption kinetic, isotherm, and thermodynamic models. Adsorption phenomenon was best explained by using the Langmuir isotherm (R² = 0.997) and pseudo second-order kinetics models (R² = 0.984). Moreover, in the thermodynamic parameters, negative values of $\mathrm{\Delta }{H}^{\circ }$ (− 61.13 kJ/mol) and $\mathrm{\Delta }{G}^{\circ }$ (− 0.619 kJ/mol) indicated exothermic and spontaneous adsorption, respectively at the lower temperatures. As photocatalyst, Ag@AgCl/Cu²⁺-Bi₂O₃ nanocomposites exhibited superior performance (99.60% degradation in 60$\mathit{min}$) compared to the binary Cu²⁺-Bi₂O₃ sample (81.48%) for RhB removal. The role of $\mathit{pH}$ and active species involved in the degradation process were also analyzed.