Abstract

Through the application of Taguchi robust design (TRD), the operating parameters influencing the synthesis of terbium(III) tungstate nanoparticles via the chemical precipitation reaction were optimized. The overall reaction involved the direct addition of different aqueous terbium(III) solutions to those of tungstate ion solution, and the statistical approach was used to optimize the effects of the operating parameters on the size of the prepared terbium(III) tungstate particles. To this end, analysis of variance (ANOVA) evaluations were performed to evaluate the importance of the different variables including tungstate and terbium ion concentrations, the flow rate at which the cation was added to the tungstate solution (Fc) and the reaction temperature. After optimizing the synthesis procedure, terbium(III) tungstate nanoparticles were prepared under the optimal conditions, and their morphology and chemical composition were evaluated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), FT-IR spectroscopy, and UV-Vis spectrometry. The optimal product was also evaluated as a photocatalyst in the UV-induced catalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO), and was found to possess an excellent activity for catalyzing this reaction, which can be regarded as an indication for its photocatalytic potentials for other similar reactions.