Photocatalytic Degradation of Atrazine under Visible Light Using Novel Ag@Mg4Ta2O9 Nanocomposites

Abstract

Abstract In this work, a novel as well as an efficient photocatalyst based Ag@Mg 4 Ta 2 O 9 nanoparticles have been prepared for the photocatalytic degradation of atrazine using the hydrothermal technique. In order to measure the chemical composition as well as the phase of the novel nanoparticles, different characterization techniques were applied to confirm their structures. Furthermore, the percent of Ag in the Ag@Mg 4 Ta 2 O 9 nanoparticles has been investigated on the properties of Mg 4 Ta 2 O 9 (physical and chemical). The phase of new Ag@Mg 4 Ta 2 O 9 was confirmed via XRD data comparing with pure Mg 4 Ta 2 O 9 phase. The images of the morphologies for all samples were studied using TEM with pore size distribution around 24 nm for 2.0 wt.% Ag@Mg 4 Ta 2 O 9 nanocomposite. The new Ag@Mg 4 Ta 2 O 9 nanoparticles have been applied for atrazine degradation using photocatalytic method. Due to the high BET surface area and low band gap, the nanoparticles with 2.0 wt.% of Ag@Mg 4 Ta 2 O 9 display the best photocatalyst efficiency for atrazine degradation. Moreover, the application and the limitation of the photodegradation process were estimated. Different conditions effect on atrazine degradation such as dosages of photocatalyst and concentration of atrazine were investigated. The ability of 2.0 wt.% Ag@Mg 4 Ta 2 O 9 for atrazine degradation was reused for many times with the same efficiency.