Abstract
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•Facile sol-gel and ultra-sonication routes to synthesize Ag/PANI/ZnTiO3 photocatalysts.•Superior photocatalytic activity for degradation of methylene blue and insecticide (imidacloprid).•The k value using Ag/PANI/ZnTiO3 photocatalyst is 1.85 times larger than that of undoped ZnTiO3.•A plausible photodegradation reaction mechanism is thoroughly discussed and addressed.•Excellent operational stability and reusability of the photocatalyst are achieved.
Fabrication and designing of effective visible light responsive photocatalysts are exhaustively needed for tackling the critical environmental issues. The present research aims to design highly effective visible-light oriented ternary photocatalyst based on ZnTiO3 nanostructures which possess excellent photocatalytic performance simply by doping it with polyaniline (PANI) and Ag nanoparticles for the environmental remediation purpose. Ag and PANI doped ZnTiO3 ternary framework were synthesized via a modified sol-gel method followed by an ultra-sonication approach. XRD analysis displayed the rhombohedral phase of ZnTiO3, whereas the XPS and FTIR spectra confirmed the successful formation of a ternary combination between Ag, PANI and ZnTiO3 nanostructures. TEM investigation showed that Ag nanoparticles (10–20 nm) were successfully attached with ZnTiO3 nanoparticles (~70 nm) and sheet-like PANI particles (>300 nm), confirming the ternary photocatalyst formation. The UV–vis spectroscopy revealed lowering of bandgap energies upon Ag and PANI incorporation. The newly prepared Ag/PANI/ZnTiO3 nanocomposites were successfully utilized for the photocatalytic destruction of methylene blue (MB) and insecticide (imidacloprid) molecules under visible light. The 1%Ag/10%PANI/ZnTiO3 ternary photocatalyst exhibited extraordinary performance with 95.6% removal of target MB molecule, yielding the highest degradation rate, which is 1.85 times higher than that of undoped ZnTiO3. Furthermore, the 1%Ag/10%PANI/ZnTiO3 ternary framework was found to be highly destructive for the removal of insecticide imidacloprid under visible-light illumination.