Transactions of the INDIAN CERAMIC SOCIETY Vol. 80 2021
Solution Combustion Synthesis of YVO4 Nanopowder
Using V2O5.nH2O Gel: Photodegradation Studies
Rajeshwari Gangadharachar and Gujjarahalli Thimmanna Chandrappa*
Pages : 47-54
DOI : 10.1080/0371750X.2020.1864664
Abstract
In the present work, yttrium orthovanadate (YVO4) nanopowder has been synthesized
via solution combustion route using citric acid as fuel. The primary aim is to establish
a facile solution combustion reaction to produce YVO4 nanopowder with lower band
gap using vanadium pentoxide (V2O5.nH2O) gel as precursor and then investigation
of its photocatalytic activity against anionic and cationic dyes in presence of visible
light. The powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) analysis reveals the formation of pure
YVO4 with tetragonal phase having crystallite size ~30.95 nm. Scanning electron
micrograph (SEM) exhibits highly porous nature of the product. Breauner-Emmet-Teller
(BET) surface area analysis of YVO4 nanopowder shows a relatively large specific
surface area of ~46.57 m2.g–1. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) exhibits
uniform particle size distribution with average particle sizes varying in the range of
20-100 nm. The band gap of 2.16 eV is calculated using the ultraviolet diffuse
reflectance spectrum (UV-DRS) of YVO4. The photoluminescence spectrum of YVO4
nanopowder shows emission peak at 572.2 nm. The photocatalytic degradation of
methylene blue (MB) using YVO4 as photocatalyst shows 92% decolorization in
presence of visible radiation. Photocatalytic activity has also been extended to
investigate the degradation of amaranth dye and rhodamine-B (Rh-B) under visible
light irradiation which reveals 80% degradation of amaranth dye but Rh-B shows only
65% decolorization using YVO4 nanopowder. Hence YVO4 nanopowder shows good
photocatalytic activity for MB and amaranth dye compared to Rh-B.
[Keywords: Combustion synthesis, Vanadium pentoxide gel, Yttrium orthovanadate,
Methylene blue, Rhodamine-B, Photocatalytic activity]