Abstract
Photodegradation of organic pollutants is considered to be the most suitable and cheaper techniques to counter the contamination issues. Metal nanoparticles are considered to be the most effective heterogenous photocatalysts for the photodegradation of organic pollutants. Besides, CuO oxide nanoparticles are well-known photocatalysts for photocatalytically degrading organic pollutants. Herein, we reported the synthesis of pure copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) and nanoclay-supported copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO/NC NPs) by facile chemical reduction technique for swift photodegradation of organic dye. The X-ray diffractogram (XRD) has demonstrated a typical monoclinic phase of CuO NPs. The morphological features via scanning electronic microscopy (FESEM) showed agglomerated morphology of CuO NPs with 372.57 ± 1.76 nm average particle size. The micrographs also revealed the homogenous dispersion of CuO NPs over NC surface in CuO/NC nanocomposite. A polydispersity index (PDI) of 0.39 presented slight variation in the particle size of CuO NPs, which is also supported by the results obtained from atomic force microscopy (AFM), FESEM and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). CuO/NC NPs demonstrated outstanding methyl orange degradation over a very short period of time under simulated light. Using CuO/NC NPs, about 97.18% and 95.96% dye degradations were achieved in merely 4 min, under UV and visible light, respectively. The excellent photodegradation efficacy of CuO/NC NPs can be attributed to the homogenous distribution of CuO NPs, which facilitates the generation of photoexcitons (electrons and holes), enhances charge transfer and minimizes the charge recombination. The NC induced the required photostability by providing sufficient space for NPs distribution.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
R. Arunadevi, B. Kavitha, M. Rajarajan, A. Suganthi, A. Jeyamurugan, Surf. Interfaces 10, 32 (2018)
R.G. Saratale, G.D. Saratale, J.S. Chang, S.P. Govindwar, J. Taiwan Inst. Chem. Eng. 42, 138 (2011)
I. Kazeminezhad, A. Sadollahkhani, Mater. Lett. 120, 267 (2014)
H. Zhu, R. Jiang, L. Xiao, Y. Chang, Y. Guan, X. Li, G.Zeng, J. Hazard. Mater. 169, 933 (2009)
S. Shahabuddin, R. Khanam, M. Khalid, N.M. Sarih, J.J. Ching, S. Mohamad, R. Saidur, Arab. J. Chem. 11, 1000 (2018)
A. Kumar, G.Pandey, Mater. Sci. Eng. Int. J. 1, 106 (2017)
K. Saeed, I. Khan, S.Y. Park, Desalin. Water Treat. 54, 3146 (2015)
I. A.Elouinani, M. Boumanchar, Y. Zbair, A. Chhiti, F. Sahibed-dine, M. Bentiss, Bensitel, J. Mater. Environ. Sci. 8, 1301 (2017)
R. Tanwar, S. Kumar, U.K. Mandal, J. Photochem. Photobiol. A. Chem. 333, 105 (2017)
K. Saeed, I. Khan, Turk. J. Chem. 41, 391 (2017)
A.N. Ejhieh, M. Khorsandi, Desalination 262, 79 (2010)
S.K. Kansal, S. Sood, A. Umar, S.K. Mehta, J. Alloys Compd. 581, 392 (2013)
J. Marto, P.S. Marcos, T. Trindade, J.A. Labrincha, J. Hazard. Mater. 163, 36 (2009)
J. Aliaga, N. Cifuentes, G. Gonzalez, C.S. Torres, E. Benavente, Catalysts 8, 374 (2018)
K. Fischer, P. Schulz, I. Atanasov, A.A. Latif, I. Thomas, M. Kuhnert, A. Prager, J. Griebel, A. Schulze, Catalysts 8, 376 (2018)
Y. Li, Q. Gu, X. Liu, M. Zhang, Mater. Sci. Forum 917, 190 (2018)
V.K. Gupta, R. Jain, A. Mittal, M. Mathur, S. Sikarwar, J. Colloid Interface Sci. 309, 464 (2007)
D. Yu, R. Cai, Z.Liu, Spectrochim. Acta A Mol. Biomol. Spectrosc. 60, 1617 (2004)
W. Chomkitichai, J. Pama, P. Jaiyen, S. Pano, J. Ketwaraporn, P. Pookmanee, S. Phanichphant, P. Jansanthea, Appl. Mech. Mater. 886, 138 (2019)
X. Liu, H. Zhai, P. Wang, Q. Zhang, Z. Wang, Y. Liu, Y. Dai, B. Huang, X. Qin, X. Zhang, Catal. Sci. Technol. 9, 652 (2019)
M.R. Abhilash, G. Akshatha, S. Srikantaswamy, RSC Adv. 9, 8557 (2019)
H. Gu, X. Chen, F. Chen, X. Zhou, Z. Parsaee, Ultrason. Sonochem. 41, 109 (2018)
Z.A.M. Hir, P. Moradihamedani, A.H. Abdullah, M.A. Mohamed, Mater. Sci. Semicond. Process. 57, 157 (2017)
A. Bhattacharyya, S. Kawi, M.B. Ray, Catal. Today 98, 431 (2004)
M.P. Seabra, R.R. Pires, J.A. Labrincha, Chem. Eng. J. 171, 692 (2011)
N. Zada, I. Khan, T. Shah, T. Gul, N. Khan, K. Saeed, Inorg. Nano-Met. Chem. 50, 333 (2020)
S. Ali, Z. Li, S. Chen, A. Zada, I. Khan, I. Khan, W. Ali, S. Shaheen, Y. Qu, L. Jing, Catal. Today 335, 557 (2019)
K. Saeed, M. Sadiq, I. Khan, S. Ullah, N. Ali, A. Khan, Appl. Water Sci. 8, 60 (2018)
K. Mikami, Y. Kido, Y. Akaishi, A. Quitain, T. Kida, Sensors 19, 211 (2019)
L. Lin, Y. Ma, Q. Xie, L. Wang, Q. Zhang, D.L. Peng, ACS Nano 11, 6893 (2017)
J. Ha, Y.T. Kim, J. Choi, Chem. Sus. Chem. 13, 419 (2020)
E. Alzahrani, R.A. Ahmed, Int. J. Electrochem. Sci. 11, 47123 (2016)
A.P.A. Mary, A.T. Ansari, R. Subramanian, J. King Saud Univ. Sci. 31, 1103 (2019)
A.N. Bnaerjee, S.W. Joo, Nanotechnology 22, 365705 (2011)
Y. Cao, Y. Saygili, A. Ummadisingu, J. Teuscher, J. Luo, N. Pellet, F. Giordano, S.M. Zakeeruddin, J.E. Moser, M. Freitag, A. Hagfeldt, M. Gratzel, Nat. Commun. 8, 15390 (2017)
M.N. Asl, N.M. Mahmodi, P. Teymouri, B. Shahmoradi, R. Rezaee, A.Maleki, Desalin. Water Treat. 57, 1 (2016)
M. Batool, M.Z. Qureshi, F. Hashmi, N. Mehboob, W.M. Daoush, Asian J. Chem. 31, 707 (2019)
C.R. Marcelo, G.A. Puiatti, M.A. Nascimento, A.F. Oliveira, R.P. Lopes, J. Nanomater. (2018). https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/4642038
T. Zhang, I.P.A.F. Souza, J. Xu, V.C. Almeida, T. Asefa, Nanomaterials 8, 636 (2018)
M.S. Niasari, F. Davar, Mater. Lett. 63, 441 (2009)
K. Saeed, I. Khan, T. Shah, S.Y. Park, Fiber Polym. 16, 1870 (2015)
R. Gong, J. Ye, W. Dai, X. Yan, J. Hu, X. Hu, S. Li, H. Huang, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 52, 14297 (2013)
Z. Hong, Y. Cao, J. Deng, Mater. Lett. 52, 34 (2002)
Z. Li, Y. Xin, Z. Zhang, H. Wu, P. Wang, Sci. Rep. 5, 10617 (2015)
Z. You, J.M. Beale, J.M. Foley, S. Roy, G.M. Odegard, Q. Dai, S.W. Goh, Constr. Build. Mater. 25, 1072 (2011)
M.W. Ho, C.K. Lam, K. Lau, D.H.L. Ng, D.Hui, Compos. Struct. 75, 415 (2006)
I. Khan, M. Sadiq, I. Khan, K. Saeed, Environ. Sci. Pollut. R. 26, 5140 (2019)
F. Gao, H. Pang, S. Xu, Q. Lu, Chem. Commun. 24, 3571 (2009)
L. Sun, X. Wu, M. Meng, X. Zhu, P.K. Chu, J. Phys. Chem. C 118, 28063 (2014)
C. Dong, M. Zhong, T. Huang, M. Ma, D. Wortmann, M. Brajdic, I. Kelbassa, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 3, 4332 (2011)
T. Kim, V.G. Parale, H.N.R. Jung, Y. Kim, Z. Driss, D. Driss, A. Bouabidi, S. Euchy, H.H. Park, Nanomaterials 9, 358 (2019)
H. Park, S.A. Hira, N. Muthuchamy, S. Park, K.H. Park, Nanomater. Nanotechnol. 9, 1 (2019)
S.N.S. Jefri, A.H. Abdullah, E.N. Mohammad, Asian J. Green Chem. 3, 271 (2019)
M.R.G. Robles, J.J.P. Bueno, C.S.A. Syllas, M.L.M. Lopez, F.M. Guerrero, MRS Adv. 3, 3933 (2018)
Inamuddin, Int. J. Biol. Macromol. 121, 1046 (2019)
K. Saeed, I. Khan, T. Gul, M.Sadiq, Appl. Water Sci. 7, 3841 (2017)
N. Zada, K. Saeed, I. Khan, Appl. Water Sci. 10, 40 (2020)
K.M. Reza, A.S.W. Kurny, F. Gulshan, Appl. Water Sci. 7, 1569 (2017)
Acknowledgements
This work is supported by Bacha Khan University, Charsadda.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Khan, I., Khan, I., Usman, M. et al. Nanoclay-mediated photocatalytic activity enhancement of copper oxide nanoparticles for enhanced methyl orange photodegradation. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 31, 8971–8985 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-020-03431-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-020-03431-6