Preparation and characterization of single perovskite microplates and its sunlight assisted photodecolorization activity, validated by response surface methodology

Abstract

Perovskites overtaking simple metal oxides as solar light harvesting material due to their excellent photocatalytic efficiency and superior stability. An efficient visible light responsive, K₂Ba_0.3Cu_0.7O₃ single perovskites oxides (SPOs) photocatalyst was fabricated by a facile hydrothermal method. The fabricated SPOs was characterized by various techniques. SEM analysis confirm the cubic morphology of SPOs, the average length and diameter of SPOs were 27.84 and 10.06 μm calculated from SEM images. FT-IR analysis confirmed the presence of M-M and M - O bonds. EDX showed prominent peaks of the constituent elements. The average crystallite size of SPOs calculated by Scherrer and Williamson-Hall equation was 14.08 and 18.47 nm respectively. The optical band gap value lies in visible region of spectrum (2.0 eV) determined from the Tauce's plot. The fabricated SPOs was applied for photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye. Maximum degradation 98.09% of MB was achieved at 40 min irradiation time, 0.01 g catalyst dose, 60 mg L^-1 MB concentration and pH 9. The photocatalytic degradation of MB follows first order kinetic. RSM modeling of MB removal was also caried out. Reduce quadratic model was best fitted model having F-value = 300.65, P-value = < 0.0001,R² = 0.9897, predicted R² = 0.9850 and adjusted R² = 0.9864.

Keywords: Cubic structure; Methylene Blue dye; Photodecolorization; Response surface methodology; Single perovskite microplates.