Fabrication and characterization of (PVDF/PEO)/AgBiSe2 polymeric membrane with enhanced visible light photocatalytic performance

Driven by the visible band gap, silver bismuth selenide (AgBiSe2) was loaded in PVDF/PEO blend to enhance the photodegradation of Maxilon blue dye. AgBiSe2 nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by facile solvothermal approach and then loaded to PVDF/PEO (80/20) by 10, 20, and 30 wt%, by evaporative casting method. The X-ray results in tandem with the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) established the successful fabrication of (PVDF/PEO)/x(AgBiSe2) polymer nanocomposites. The X-ray analysis verified the formation of hexagonal AgBiSe2 of a crystallite size ranging from 14.3 to 23.24 nm. The FT-IR results manifested an overlap between functional groups that corroborated the interaction between PVDF and PEO. Peaks of the Ag-Se, and Se(sic)O modes confirmed that the nanofiller and PVDF/PEO blend were successfully incorporated. The micrograph images by field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) unraveled the high tendency of AgBiSe2 to form a uniform cluster. The optical band gap was found to be a direct band gap of 2.86 eV for 30 wt% AgBiSe2 proving its validity as visible-light-driven photocatalysts. The removal percentages of the prepared membrane are 4.1, 59, 82, and 98 for 0, 10%, 20%, and 30% AgBiSe2 after 300 min of irradiation under simulated sunlight at pH 6.