Reduced graphene oxide (rGO)/bismuth vanadate BiVO 4 composites are fabricated with varied rGO amounts (0, 1, 2, and 3 wt%) through the synergetic effects of ultrasonication, photoinduced reduction, and hydrothermal methods, and the materials are tested as tools for sonophotocatalytic methylene blue (MB) dye degradation. The effect of rGO content on the sonophotocatalytic dye degradation capabilities of the composites are explored. Characterization of the proposed materials is done through transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy as well as scanning electron microscopy. The coexistence of BiVO 4 and rGO is confirmed using Raman spectroscopy and XRD. TEM confirms the existence of interfaces between rGO and BiVO 4 and XPS affirms the existence of varied elemental oxidation states. In order to investigate the charge carriers transportation, time-dependent photocurrent responses of BiVO 4 and 2 wt%-rGO/BiVO 4 are done under visible light irradiation. The sonophotocatalytic MB dye degradation in an aqueous medium displays promising enhancement with rGO doping in rGO/BiVO 4 composite. The 2 wt%-rGO/BiVO 4 sample exhibits ≈52% MB dye degradation efficiency as compared to pure BiVO4 (≈25%) in 180 min of the sonophotocatalysis experiment. Phytotoxicity analysis through germination index is done using vigna radiata seeds.
The engineering of extremely e cient, low-cost, and stable electrocatalysts were required for the sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Herein, using hydrothermal technique, strontium telluride (SrTe/GC) nanoballs fabricated for water splitting to work e ciently as an e cient OER catalysts. According to physical and chemical characterizations, SrTe/GC nanoballs exhibits a three-dimensional form and homogeneous surface distribution, performing a low overpotential of 268 mV at 10 mA/cm 2 with small Tafel slope of 25 mV/dec. The fabricated material exhibits excellent stability of 24 hours with no decline in current density. The Te-induced metallic telluride and substantial covalency around the strontium center is responsible for this catalyst's outstanding performance. This study reveals the valuable insight of metal telluride materials to function as an extraordinarily e cient and stable OER catalysts at high current densities.
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