SYNTHESIS OF NANO MATERIALS BY MICROWAVE ASSISTED HYDROTHERMAL METHOD

Bismuth tungstate nano materials have been successfully synthesized by microwave assisted hydrothermal method. Bismuth nitrate (Bi(NO3)3.5H2O) and sodium tungstate (Na2WO4.2H2O) are used as a starting material for the preparation of nano materials and solution pH was maintained to 3. The prepared material was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) to study the phase state, whereas surface morphology was observed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The surface area was determined by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method. The results revealed that materials are crystalline in nature having crystallite size of ~ 24 nm with surface area of 6.5 m2/g. SEM image of prepared materials showed a unique discrete hierarchical morphology. The prepared material showed visible light active photocatalytic nature for the decomposition of Rhodamine B. Scientific World, Vol. 12, No. 12, September 2014, page 21-23