Eco-friendly and green synthesis of BiVO4 nanoparticle using microwave irradiation as photocatalayst for the degradation of Alizarin Red S

•Synthesis of nano bismuth vanadate using microwave combustion.•The textural and optical properties of the bismuth vanadate have been studied.•The photo degradation capability of the bismuth vanadate towards Alizarin red S has been studied.•The photo degradation of Alizarin red S follows pseudo first order kinetics.

Bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) nanocrystals have been successfully synthesised using microwave-assisted combustion synthesis (MCS), and characterised using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and Raman spectra, surface area analysis (BET), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), diffused reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The XRD results confirmed the formation of monoclinic bismuth vanadate. The formations of BiO & VO43−vibrations were ascertained from FT-IR data. The morphology of hallow internal structural micro entities were confirmed by SEM. The optical properties were determined by DRS and PL spectra. Hence, the influence of the preparation methods on the structure, morphology and optical activities of bismuth vanadate was investigated systematically. Photocatalytic degradation (PCD) of Alizarin Red S (ARS), an effective disrupting chemical in aqueous medium was investigated using BiVO4 nanoparticles. The kinetics of PCD was found to follow pseudo first-order.