Design of solar-light-driven agglomerated cluster-like transition/rare-earth metal oxide-supported carbon-based nanomaterial for the degradation of azo dye

Transition and rare-earth metal oxide-supported nanomaterials have ignited an attraction in many fields such as energy, environment and etc. In this work, transition/rare-earth metal oxide-supported carbon-based nanomaterials (TRM) were prepared by hydrothermal method and it was characterized by UV-DRS, FTIR, XRD, AFM, FE-SEM, HR-TEM, and EDAX techniques. Doping levels of transition/rare-earth metal oxides on the carbon-based material impacts the photocatalytic degradation efficiency. The photocatalytic activity (PCA) of the prepared TRM was examined, and the highest degradation percentage was observed compared to other reported catalysts. TRM 2 exhibits the maximum degradation percentages of azo dye under sunlight (99.8%) irradiation. The optimization studies were conducted, such as the effect of pH, catalyst dosage, and concentration. The optimum condition for photocatalytic degradation was pH - 6.51, TRM dosage - 10 mg, and dye concentration - 5 ppm. The kinetic studies were conducted for the various concentrations (5-20 ppm), and the rate of reaction was determined; it clearly illustrated that the reaction follows a pseudo-first-order kinetics. The enhanced PCA in the TRM 2 was due to the combination of transition/rare-earth metal oxides on the carbon-based material. This transition/rare-earth metal oxide-supported carbon-based nanomaterials (TRM) is practically helpful in degrading environmental pollutants in real-time wastewater under sunlight irradiation.