Photodegradation of methylene blue under UV and visible light irradiation by Er 2 O 3 -coated silicon nanowires as photo
- PDF / 1,368,573 Bytes
- 12 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 28 Downloads / 173 Views
Photodegradation of methylene blue under UV and visible light irradiation by Er2O3‑coated silicon nanowires as photocatalyst Afaf Brik1,2 · Sabrina Naama1 · Toufik Hadjersi1 · Mohamed El Amine Benamar2 · Sihem Bouanik1 · Amar Manseri1 Received: 22 July 2020 / Accepted: 1 September 2020 © Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary 2020
Abstract In this paper, we report on the photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) using Er2O3-coated silicon nanowires as photocatalyst under UV and visible light irradiation. The silicon nanowires (SiNWs) were synthesized by Ag-assisted electroless etching on which Er was electrodeposited by Chronoamperometric method. The samples were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results showed that Er2O3 was uniformly formed on silicon nanowires. The samples showed a high efficiency for the MB photodegradation especially, under UV light irradiation where a degradation rate of 100% was obtained after 90 min. Keywords Erbium · Silicon nanowires · Photocatalyst · Methylene blue · Photodegradation
Introduction Photocatalysis has attracted much interest due to its capability to degrade organic pollutants under UV and visible light irradiations [1–4]. Commonly, semiconductor TiO2 is the most used in this process in reason of its unique properties. However, its wide band gap (3.2 eV) limits its use in the visible range [5, 6]. Silicon is a low cost and environmental friendly semiconductor, which is most used in the fabrication of microelectronic devices. However, it cannot be used as photocatalyst because it is not able to oxidize organic pollutants. Recently, it was * Afaf Brik [email protected]; [email protected] 1
Research Center in Semiconductors Technology for Energetic, CRTSE‑02, Bd.Dr.Frantz FANON, B.P.140 Algiers‑7, 16038 Merveilles, Algeria
2
Saad Dahlab Blida 1 University - Route de Soumaa, BP 270, Blida 09000 Blida
13
Vol.:(0123456789)
Reaction Kinetics, Mechanisms and Catalysis
shown that the silicon nanostructures can be used as an effective photocatalyst for the degradation of organic pollutants and the reduction of graphene oxide (GO) [7–15]. Indeed, some reports shown that SiNWs are the most promising for photocatalysis applications [21]. Chen et al. shown that the degradation rate of methyl red depends on the amount of H-SiNWs [22]. Tsang et al. reported that the modification of SiNWs with Au and Cu significantly enhances the photocatalytic activity for the selective oxidation of hydrocarbons [23]. Megouda et al. also reported the high performance of H-SiNWs and metal (Ag, Cu) decorated SiNWs for the photodegradation of rhodamine B under UV and visible light irradiation [23]. Brahiti et al. modified SiNWs with Au nanoparticles and concluded that increasing the Au nanoparticles enhances the photodegradation activity of methylene blue under UV light irradiation [14]. Naama et al. found that Cu-modified SiNWs are the most effective for the tartrazine degradation than unmodified SiNWs an
Data Loading...
