Carboxymethyl cellulose- and fluorapatite-coated silver[orthophosphate-bromide] nanostructures for photodegradation of an azo dye from the textile industry

Abstract

Visible light photoactive silver[orthophosphate-bromide] loaded on fluorapatite (FA) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) supports were prepared by an ionic liquid-assisted precipitation method and used as effective light driven heterogeneous systems for removal of Acid Blue 92 (AB92) azo dye and E. coli gram-negative bacteria from the wastewaters. The prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) powder, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), Furrier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms (BET). The XRD patterns well proved the formation of Ag₃PO₄ and AgBr photocatalytic crystalline phases of the nanostructures. Besides, the SEM images demonstrated that the photoactive particles were homogenously dispersed on the surface and the average size of the particles is below 90 nm. The antibacterial experiments showed that the products particularly the FA-based photocatalyst can also be utilized as efficient antimicrobial agents. According to the results, the CMC-based photocatalyst was more active during the first time of using while the other one was determined to be promising enough during the recycling tests.