Abstract
Pristine lanthanum nickelate (LaNiO
3
), silver phosphate (Ag
3
PO
4
) and perovskite lanthanum nickelate silver phosphate composites (LaNiO
3
/Ag
3
PO
4
) were prepared using the facile hydrothermal method. Three composites were synthesized by varying the percentage of LaNiO
3
in Ag
3
PO
4
. The physical properties of as-prepared samples were studied by powder X-ray diffraction (pXRD), Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX). Among all synthesized photocatalysts, 5%LaNiO
3
/Ag
3
PO
4
composite has been proved to be an excellent visible light photocatalyst for the degradation of dyes i.e., rhodamine B (RhB) and methyl orange (MO). The photocatalytic activity and stability of Ag
3
PO
4
were also enhanced by introducing LaNiO
3
in Ag
3
PO
4
heterojunction formation. Complete photodegradation of 50 mg/L of RhB and MO solutions using 25 mg of 5%LaNiO
3
/Ag
3
PO
4
photocatalyst was observed in just 20 min. Photodegradation of RhB and MO using 5%LaNiO
3
/Ag
3
PO
4
catalyst follows first-order kinetics with rate constants of 0.213 and 0.1804 min
−1
, respectively. Perovskite LaNiO
3
/Ag
3
PO
4
photocatalyst showed the highest stability up to five cycles. The photodegradation mechanism suggests that the holes (
h
+
) and superoxide anion radicals
O
2
•
−
plays a main role in the dye degradation of RhB and MO.