Synthesis and characterization of barium molybdate nanostructures with the aid of amino acids and investigation of its photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange

Abstract

In the current study, barium molybdate (BaMoO4) nanostructures were synthesized via a largescale and facile sonochemical method based on the reaction between barium(II) nitrate hexahydrate and (NH4)6- Mo7O244H2O in an aqueous solution. Besides, two amino acids leucine and proline were introduce as capping agents and their effects on the morphology and particle size of barium molybdate were investigated. It was found that size and morphology could be easily realized by changing the type of amino acids. XRD, SEM, EDS, and UV–Vis spectroscopy were employed to characterize structural, morphological, and optical properties of BaMoO4 nanostructures. Barium molybdate (BaMoO4) nanostructures indicated a ferromagnetic behavior at room temperature, as evidenced by using vibrating sample magnetometer. Furthermore, the photocatalysis results reveal that the maximum decolorization of 75 % for methyl orange occurred with BaMoO4 samples in 70 min under ultraviolet light irradiation.