Photocatalytic efficiency of Na4Co(MoO4)3 for the degradation of industrial azo dye under solar irradiation

Cobalt and sodium molybdate Na4Co(MoO4)(3) was synthesized using the solid state method. X-ray diffraction (XRD), IR and Raman spectroscopy confirmed a monoclinic structure of the prepared sample. The morphology of the obtained nanoparticles was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The Surface area was determined using the Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET) method. The photoluminescence (PL) spectrum exhibits an emission band located at 2.45 eV and a weak green emission associated with deep-level defects. The UV-vis spectroscopy shows that band gap energy (Eg) of the sample is about 3.12 eV. The photocatalytic performance evaluates by means of the degradation of Navy Blue 5R (C.I. Acid Blue 113) azo dye under solar irradiation. Na4Co(MoO4)(3) shows good photocatalytic removal efficiency of azo dye. The removal of Navy Blue 5R solution reaches 90% after 210 min of reaction under solar light irradiation. The experiments reveal that the deterioration rate of this dye usually follows pseudo-first-order kinetics for photodegradation mechanisms and the mean kinetic constant values of the Navy Blue 5 R solution is equal to 7.60 x 10(-3) min(-1). These results indicate that the prepared Na4Co(MoO4)(3) compound may be of interest to degrade other organic pollutants.