Facile Synthesis of CuO Semiconductor Nanorods for Time Dependent Study of Dye Degradation and Bioremediation Applications

Abstract

The manuscript reports facile one step synthesis of CuO semiconductor nanorods by sol-gel aaproach for photocatalytic and bioremediation applications. Spectroscopic characterization along with X-ray diffractometry and electron microscopy studies confirmed the formation of nanorods with 12 to 14 nm diameter and 50-100 nm length. As synthesized nanorods were subjected to photocatalytic degradation of dyes viz. Methylene Orange (MO), Methylene Blue (MB), Eriochrome Black T (ET) and Congo Red (CR) in a time bound study. Comparative analysis of the data depicted that time taken for degradation of equal amount of CR was more compared to the other three dyes owing to its high molecular weight and lower diffusion rate in aqueous medium. Subsequently, the antibacterial properties of the nanorods were investigated against the gram negative Escherichia coli and gram positive Bacillus bacteria. Zone of clearance was observed in disk diffusion assays, thereby confirming the antibacterial characteristics of the nanorods. These nanorods thus hold great promise as a simple, selective and a sensitive analytical platform for the effective bio-monitoring and photocatalyst for dye degradation.

Photocatalytic activity of CuO nanoparticles for organic and inorganic pollutants removal in wastewater remediation

“…Several researchers have reported the performance of CuO and CuO-based catalysts for the photocatalytic destruction of various organic contaminants. For example, Singh et al [69] studied the catalytic activity of CuO nanorods synthesized by sol-gel method to the degradation of methyl orange, methylene blue, Eriochrome Black T, and Congo red dyes individually and under similar experimental conditions and they found removal percentages in increasing order: Congo red < methylene blue < Eriochrome Black T < methyl orange. This observed discrepancy of degradation performance of the same catalyst to Congo red (Mw = 696.7 g/mol) with the slowest rate of degradation as opposed to methyl orange (Mw = 327 g/mol) with the highest rate was attributed to their variation in molecular mass of the dyes (indicated in Figure 14) which results in different diffusion rate to catalyst surface active sites and hence the rate of decomposition reaction.…”

One-Pot Facile Synthesis of CuO–CdWO4 Nanocomposite for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production

“…CuO is a p-type semiconductor with a narrow bandgap (Eg = 1.2-1.6 eV), which offers a wide range of applications, including optical, electrical, catalytic, and photocatalytic degradation, as well as serves as an antioxidant and an adsorbent [18][19][20][21][22]. Due to the distinctive physical and chemical characteristics of CuO, CuO nanoparticles (NPs) have been used in catalytic processes, chemical sensors, antimicrobial textiles, and batteries [23][24][25].…”