Fabrication of M@Cu_xO/ZnO (M= Ag, Au) Heterostructured Nanocomposite with Enhanced Photocatalytic Performance under Sunlight

Abstract

We report a biogenic method for the design and characterization of three different composite nanomaterials, Cu x O/ZnO, Ag@Cu x O/ZnO, and Au@Cu x O/ZnO (x = I and II), with the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect and p−n heterojunction for photocatalysis. The crystal structure of the material was scrutinized by XRD, DRS, PL, XPS, FT-IR, EDS, and TEM analysis. To make the composite efficient, we have sensibly introduced plasmonic Ag and Au on Cu x O/ZnO individually by using Ziziphus jujuba leaf extract. The widened light incorporation, effectual conveyance of photogenerated carriers, and incidence of brawny SPR effect makes the composites sensitive under visible light. The synthesized ternary composites, Ag@Cu x O/ZnO and Au@Cu x O/ZnO, exhibit much higher photocatalytic activity than ZnO and Cu x O/ZnO for the degradation of industrial textile effluent and methyl orange under sunlight as well as UV light. Using effortless comet assay practice, the genotoxicity of TE prior to and past photodegradation was assessed.

Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity of CuWO4 Doped TiO2 Photocatalyst Towards Carbamazepine Removal under UV Irradiation

“…In agreement with reported data, the binding energy of resolved deconvoluted Ti 2p of the pure TiO 2 component of the 0.05CuWO 4 -TiO 2 (red line) and that of pure unmodified TiO 2 (black line) were obtained and attributed to Ti 4+ at 458.7 eV and 458.1 eV binding energies for Ti 2p 3/2 and 464.5 eV, and 463.7 eV binding energies for Ti 2p 1/2 , respectively, as can be seen in Figure 5b,e [29,30,[36][37][38]. From Figure 5c, a deconvoluted Cu 2p spectrum of 2p 3/2 was obtained at binding energy of 934.9 eV and was in the range of values already reported in literature attributed to Cu 2+ states [9,34,[37][38][39][40][41]. Figure 5d,f showed binding energy of O 1s of 0.05CuWO 4 -TiO 2 at 528.9 eV, reported to be accounted for adsorbed hydroxyl or oxygen molecule [38], while that of TiO 2 at 529.9 eV comes possibly from the crystal lattice oxygen (O-Ti 4+ ) in the TiO 2 .…”

“…As can be seen, the photocatalytic activity of CuWO 4 -doped TiO 2 decreased with an increase in loading amount of CuWO 4 from 0.05 wt.% to 4 wt.% ( Figure 7a) following a CBZ removal trend of 0.05CuWO 4 -TiO 2 > 1CuWO 4 -TiO 2 > 2CuWO 4 -TiO 2 > 3CuWO 4 -TiO 2~= 4CuWO 4 -TiO 2 . Generally, the observed trend of decrease in photocatalytic activity with increase in weight percentage load of CuWO 4 can be attributed to the absorption of incident light by the excess CuWO 4 , thereby reducing the number of photons reaching the TiO 2 , particle agglomeration leading to active site blockage, effects of dissolved cupric species, and possibility of charge transfer from composite to O 2 or target molecules during photocatalysis [9,17,20,30,40,47,48], hence, why the minute added 0.05CuWO 4 onto TiO 2 produced a better photocatalytic activity in the series. From Figure 7b, apparent degradation rate constants of the photocatalyst materials were recorded highest for the 0.05CuWO 4 modified TiO 2 material at~2 h −1 compared to 0.89 h −1 for TiO 2 and negligible for CuWO 4 material due to lack of photocatalytic activity during 4 h irradiation time.…”

Dual Functional S-Doped g-C3N4 Pinhole Porous Nanosheets for Selective Fluorescence Sensing of Ag+ and Visible-Light Photocatalysis of Dyes

“…MB almost disappeared within 180 min, whereas the absorbance of MO does not change significantly during the same length of adsorption times. No peak shift in the maximum absorption wavelength was observed for either dye, indicating a lack of other identifiable fragments [60].…”

Nanoengineering of Gold Nanoparticles: Green Synthesis, Characterization, and Applications

“…Gavade et al [167] synthesized a ternary nanostructure formed by CuxO/ZnO (x = 1 or 2) modified with AuNPs. This nanostructure posseses two characteristics.…”