NANOSTRUCTURED BISMUTH-DOPED CERIUM VANADATE FOR ADSORPTION AND PHOTOCATALYTIC DEGRADATION OF METHYLENE BLUE DYE

Abstract

Methylene blue (MB) is a synthetic dye with well-known carcinogenic properties, posing significant risks to human health and aqueous ecosystems. In this work, Bismuth-doped cerium vanadate (Bi-CeVO₄) as a photocatalyst has been developed through the co-precipitation method and subsequently characterized by important analytical methods such as Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and UV-Vis & Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. XRD exhibited tetragonal phase of crystalline CeVO₄ and Bi-CeVO₄ materials and the well-characterized Bi-CeVO₄ was further used for the sorptive and photocatalytic removal of MB. In this regard, different parameters were optimized @ (Volume = 25 mL, dye concentration = 45 ppm, catalyst dosage = 0.01 g/L, pH = 2-3, shaking speed 100 RPM, Temperature = 30 °C, Contact time = 30 minutes). Sorptive removal efficiency for MB using CeVO₄ and 9%-Bi-CeVO₄   was found to be 82.8 % and 86.8 % respectively, while photocatalytic efficiency for these materials was found to be 83.1 % and 87.1 % which indicates the photocatalytic process to be more efficient. This study provides convincing evidence that the 9%-Bi-CeVO₄ is suitable and highly effective for the large-scale photocatalytic and sorptive removal of MB dye from wastewater.