Sustainable synthesis of vanadate/fluorapatite nano-crystallites from solid waste for enhanced photocatalysis and pollution removal

Abstract

In this work, vanadate-fluorapatite, V 2 O 5 /Ca 10 (PO 4 ) 6 F 2 , nanocrystals were successfully synthesized through a straightforward one-step co-precipitation method. This method was based on two toxic solid wastes, which are mainly generated as by-products during sulfuric acid manufacturing and in the phosphate industry. The two solid wastes were mainly based on phosphogypsum as a source of calcium and vanadium pentoxide as a source of vanadate. In comparison to numerous conventional methods for FAP synthesis, this innovative method is not laborious, not complex, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly, thanks to the recovery of toxic solid wastes. Furthermore, it consists of mixing various contents of anhydrous gypsum with phosphoric acid, vanadium pentoxide, and ammonium fluoride at one time and at room temperature with no further adjustment of the pH. Several physicochemical characterization techniques were used, including X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), and Ultraviolet-Visible Spectroscopy (UV-vis). Whereas SEM analysis of the crystals obtained showed a nanometer-scale fluorapatite crystallites was obtained. The obtained results offer exciting potential for applying the prepared nanomaterial in both photocatalysis and pollution removal. They hold great promise and are expected to generate significant interest in these fields.