Investigations of nickel silicate for degradation of water-soluble organic pollutants

An organic pollutant decolorization process will be presented in this study with the help of nickel silicate (Ni2SiO4) nanophoto-catalysts which are capable of decolorizing water-soluble pollutants. A diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) technique was used to measure the optical bandgap of Ni2SiO4 nanostructures, which had an optical bandgap of 3.25 eV. Based on the data obtained by the IUPAC, the nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherm is of IV-type with hysteresis H3. According to estimates, nickel silicate nanostructures have a specific surface area of 5.52 m2/g. A number of parameters were carefully considered in order to maximize effectiveness, including different types of samples, dye types, dye concentrations, and Ni2SiO4 dosages. In the present study, Ni2SiO4 was found to be effective in the degradation of eriochrome black T (EBT) from water. As a result of the use of 70 mg of Ni2SiO4 with 10 ppm EBT and the exposure to UV light for 90 min, 91.8% of the eriochrome black T was destroyed. It was demonstrated that superoxide radicals (•O2−) were responsible for the destruction of EBT when Ni2SiO4 was used as a photocatalyst. According to the kinetic study, higher performance was obtained with a higher reaction rate constant (k = 0.0258 min-1).