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Application of CuO and its composite with polyaniline on the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue and the Cr(VI) photoreduction under visible light

  • Original Paper: Sol-gel and hybrid materials for energy, environment and building applications
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Abstract

Copper oxide (CuO) as the photocatalyst nanoparticle was prepared by the solution combustion technique. During the synthesis, iron atom source, which was iron nitrate, was added to the reaction medium to obtain iron doped CuO nanoparticles. In addition, the iron doped CuO nanoparticles were combined with the conducting polymer, which was polyaniline, through the in-situ polymerization technique. The chemical and crystal structure, optical property and the photocatalytic activity of the CuO nanoparticles and their composites were studied as a function the dopant atom concentration of CuO and the photocatalyst composition of the composites. The prepared samples were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy and UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity of the prepared samples was evaluated by the photocatalytic degradation of a model dye, methylene blue, under visible light irradiation. In addition, the Cr(VI) photoreduction efficiency of the prepared samples were studied. Iron atoms might enter into the substitutional sites of CuO. The iron atoms might act as a trapping center to capture the photoinduced charge carriers of CuO, promoting both the charge separation and the photocatalytic activities. The photocatalytic dye degradation efficiency and the Cr(VI) photoreduction efficiency of the iron doped CuO increased by almost 17% compared to undoped CuO. The composites with low polyaniline content might promote the charge separation because of the difference between the band potentials of CuO and polyaniline as shown in the graphical abstract. The composite with 80 wt.% of the iron doped CuO exhibited the highest photocatalytic dye degradation of almost 72% and the Cr(VI) photoreduction efficiency of almost 56%.

Graphical abstract

Proposed photocatalytic dye degradation and Cr(VI) photoreduction mechanism of CuO-Fe3/Pani

Highlights

  • Doping CuO with iron atom and coupling CuO with polyaniline enlarged the optical band gap energy and enhanced both the photocatalytic dye degradation efficiency and the Cr(VI) removal efficiency.

  • Doped CuO and CuO/Polyaniline composites provided low recombination rate of the photogenerated charge carriers.

  • Superoxide radicals dominated the photocatalytic dye degradation reaction.

  • The potential for use of CuO as a photocatalyst has been increased by doping with iron atom and compounding with polyaniline.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This research has been supported by Ankara University Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit. Project Number: 22H0443001, 2022.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Energy Systems Engineering, Ankara University, Ankara, 06830, Turkey

    Ozcan Koysuren

  2. Department of Environmental Engineering, Kirsehir Ahi Evran University, Kirsehir, 40100, Turkey

    Hafize Nagehan Koysuren

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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by OK and HNK. The first draft of the manuscript was written by OK and HNK. They read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ozcan Koysuren.

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Koysuren, O., Koysuren, H.N. Application of CuO and its composite with polyaniline on the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue and the Cr(VI) photoreduction under visible light. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 106, 131–148 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-023-06049-2

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