A Comparative Study on the Degradation of Methylene Blue and Methyl Orange Dyes Under the Irradiation of Visible Light Using GO–CdO Nanocomposites

Abstract

Cadmium oxide nanoparticles synthesized from alcoholic method using cadmium chloride monohydride and the composites with GO by simple dispersion method. Two nanocomposites with 5 Wt% and 10 Wt% loading of CdO over GO were prepared and named as GC1 and GC2 respectively. From XRD the CdO nanoparticles were of crystalline nature and were indexed to JCPDS card no: 05-0640 corresponding to Cubic lattice system. The particle like morphology of the CdO was confirmed by SEM and TEM. The decoration of monolayer GO sheets by CdO nanoparticles was unveiled through these studies. The Raman analysis reveals the presence of D and G peaks in the composites with an increased ID/IG ratio. UV-Vis study displays the absorption edge of CdO and a redshift is observed for GC2. From PL study, emission peak occurs at 358 nm for composites along with a quenching of intensity for GC2. The TG-DT analysis reveals the thermal stability of pristine and nanocomposites. Photocatalytic degradation of the as synthesized samples was studied for Methylene orange and Methylene blue dye using a Xenon lamp with 500 W. The degradation of the GC2 happens in 90 minutes with degradation efficiency 73% of was achieved for Methyl Orange dye. For Methylene blue the GC2 sample degrades only in 30 minutes with an efficiency of 94% was achieved.