Coprecipitation Aided Synthesis of Bimetallic Silver Tungstate: A Response Surface Simulation of Sunlight-Driven Photocatalytic Removal of 2,4-dichlorophenol

In the present study, the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) model was used to investigate the photocatalytic performance of silver tungstate (Ag 2 WO 4 ) in the removal of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) under natural sunlight. The Ag 2 WO 4 which has nanoflower-like structure was synthesized by a coprecipitation method. The synthesized photocatalyst was characterized for FESEM, TEM, EDX, XRD, FTIR, and UV-Vis spectroscopy. RSM was employed to scrutinize the suitable model to yield a profound pollutant removal rate. The four independent factors such as pollutant concentration, catalyst dosage, pH, and contact time are simulated using RSM. 91% of 2,4-DCP degradation was achieved at a higher catalyst dosage and lower pollutant concentration with contact duration of 8 h in an alkaline pH condition. The coefficient of regression (R 2 ) and probability value (P) were 0.98 and 0.0472, respectively, which confirmed the ideality of RSM modeling. The study discusses on the possible photocatalytic degradation mechanisms of 2, 4-DCP. The results showed a significant dependence of the photocatalytic removal of 2, 4-DCP on the functional parameters.