Cationic and anionic cross-assisted synergistic photocatalytic removal of binary organic dye mixture using Ni-doped perovskite oxide.

Organic dyes present in industrial wastewater are the major contributor to water pollution, which harm human health and the environment. Photocatalytic dye degradation is an effective strategy for water remediation by converting these organic dyes waste into non-harmful by-products. Therefore, in this study, Ni-doped LaFeO3 (NLFO) perovskite nanoparticles were extensively explored for photocatalytic degradation of cationic and anionic dyes and their mixture. The NLFO nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by surfactant assisted hydrothermal method under controlled Ni doping. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) revealed the variation in size (40-70 nm) of orthorhombic crystalline LFO nanoparticles with Ni doping and hence the size of microspheres (0.78. to 1.78 µm). The kinetic studies revealed that the LaFe0·6Ni0·4O3 performed well by providing degradation efficiency of 99.2% in 210 min, 99.1% in 100 min, and 98.4% in 70 min for Crystal Violet (CV), Congo Red (CR), and their mixture with rate constant of 0.019, 0.039, and 0.055 min-1 respectively. The radical scavenger tests indicated the synergetic contributions of O2- and •OH- active radicals in faster degradation of CV and CR dye mixture. The stepwise fragmentation of dye molecule during the photocatalytic degradation identified from the LCMS indicates the degradation of CV dye through de-alkylation and benzene ring breaking, whereas azo bond cleavage and oxidation lead to low molecular weight intermediates for CR dye, which all together helped to degrade their dye mixture (50 mg L-1 and 100 mg L-1) in significantly lesser time (70 min). Overall, the Ni-doped LFO microsphere consisting of nanoparticles acts as a superior catalyst for the more efficient and faster degradation of binary dye mixture.

Porous nanorods by stacked NiO nanoparticulate exhibiting corn-like structure for sustainable environmental and energy applications.

A porous 1D nanostructure provides much shorter electron transport pathways, thereby helping to improve the life cycle of the device and overcome poor ionic and electronic conductivity, interfacial impedance between electrode-electrolyte interface, and low volumetric energy density. In view of this, we report on the feasibility of 1D porous NiO nanorods comprising interlocked NiO nanoparticles as an active electrode for capturing greenhouse CO2, effective supercapacitors, and efficient electrocatalytic water-splitting applications. The nanorods with a size less than 100 nm were formed by stacking cubic crystalline NiO nanoparticles with dimensions less than 10 nm, providing the necessary porosity. The existence of Ni2+ and its octahedral coordination with O2- is corroborated by XPS and EXAFS. The SAXS profile and BET analysis showed 84.731 m2 g-1 surface area for the porous NiO nanorods. The NiO nanorods provided significant surface-area and the active-surface-sites thus yielded a CO2 uptake of 63 mmol g-1 at 273 K via physisorption, a specific-capacitance (CS) of 368 F g-1, along with a retention of 76.84% after 2500 cycles, and worthy electrocatalytic water splitting with an overpotential of 345 and 441 mV for HER and OER activities, respectively. Therefore, the porous 1D NiO as an active electrode shows multifunctionality toward sustainable environmental and energy applications.