Fibrous red phosphorus as a non-metallic photocatalyst for the effective reduction of Cr(VI) under direct sunlight

[Display omitted] •Fibrous red phosphorus (FRP) was synthesized by solid state method.•Bandgap of FRP ~1.9 eV makes it suitable photocatalyst even in natural sunlight.•FRP was explored as non-metallic photocatalyst for reduction of toxic Cr(VI).•High rate of Cr(VI) reduction was observed in acidic m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Materials letters 2021-01, Vol.283, p.128750, Article 128750
Main Authors: Athira, T.K., Roshith, M., Satheesh Babu, T.G., Ravi Kumar, Darbha V.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Allotropy
Catalytic activity
Chromium
Cr(VI) reduction
Fibrous red phosphorus
Hexavalent chromium
Industrial effluents
Materials science
Metal oxide semiconductors
Oxidation
Phosphorus
Photocatalysis
Photocatalysts
Solid state synthesis
Sunlight
Transition metal oxides
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Summary:[Display omitted] •Fibrous red phosphorus (FRP) was synthesized by solid state method.•Bandgap of FRP ~1.9 eV makes it suitable photocatalyst even in natural sunlight.•FRP was explored as non-metallic photocatalyst for reduction of toxic Cr(VI).•High rate of Cr(VI) reduction was observed in acidic medium.•Complete reduction of Cr(VI) (25 mg/L, 100 mL) was observed within 40 min at pH-2. Hexavalent chromium is an important inorganic industrial effluent in the water that causes serious health problems to the mankind. Photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) is a green technology that converts the toxic Cr(VI) to non-toxic Cr(III). In the photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI), transition metal oxide semiconductors are mainly used as photocatalysts. This infers, for the removal of a transition metal i.e. Cr(VI), another transition metal is added in the form of photocatalyst. Hence, we explore a non-metallic, elemental photocatalyst fibrous red phosphorus (FRP), a crystalline allotrope of red phosphorus as photocatalyst for Cr(VI) reduction. FRP exhibits excellent photocatalytic activity towards Cr(VI) reduction under direct sunlight and we observed complete reduction of Cr(VI) (25 mg/L) within 40 min at pH-2.
ISSN:0167-577X
1873-4979
DOI:10.1016/j.matlet.2020.128750