Ag doped CuO thin film prepared via pulsed laser deposition for 4-nitrophenol degradation

Abstract

Abstract Our work is introducing Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) technique to synthesis of silver doped copper Oxide thin film as high activity catalytic sheet for degradation of 4-nitrophenol. The synthesized Silver doped Copper Oxide thin film has been characterized via various spectroscopic techniques. XRD measurements confirm the improvement crystallinity of CuO thin film after doped by Ag. UV–vis spectra approved the increasing in the values of transmittance of CuO doped by Ag thin film. The obtained direct band gap value of pure CuO thin films is 2.64 eV, which decreases to 2.43 eV after the doping by Ag. PL results obtain peak centered on 418 nm, in Ag doped CuO thin film this peak is shifted to 408 nm and its intensity have been decreased. FE-SEM photo obtained a semi-spherical shape of CuO thin film with some distributed spherical AgNPs. The surface roughness of Ag doped CuO thin film may introduce a configuration of a composition with desired behaviors to be accepted for catalytic degradation applications. The catalytic performance of 4-nitrophenol degradation via CuO has been improved after doping by Ag via PLD according decreasing the time of the total degradation from 60 min to 25 min. The stability of the enhanced thin film confirms its possibility to use for 10 cycles and still highly efficient. The design and construction of such as this thin film consider a high impact for the removal of dyes from wastewater.