Characterization and fabrication of p-Cu2O/n-CeO2 nanocomposite for the application of photocatalysis

Abstract

Degradation of hazardous sewage from polluted water requires the application of nanomaterial’s into industrial wastewaters. For this problem, different noble nanomaterial (Cu2O, CeO2 and Cu2O/CeO2) were prepared by using the precipitation method. They were characterised by modern techniques for instance; BET, XRD, SEM, UV/Vis, FTIR, PL, CV, and EIS instruments. In case of Cu2O/CeO2 composite, it has band gap energy of 2.01 eV and specific surface area of about 32.01 m2g−1. The degradation efficiency was analysed by comparing the decolourization of methyl orange dye solution and wastewater sample collected from Mojo Tannery Factory at 140 irradiation times. In comparisons with other counterparts Cu2O/CeO2 (1:1) exhibited high efficiency for both methyl orange (95.03%) and wastewater (56.67%) solutions. This is due to the indication of a high-quality heterojunction between CeO2 and Cu2O that stimulates the transfer of charge carriers and partition of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. The effects of scavengers confirmed that hole (h+) and superoxide anion (•O2-) trapping species play a crucial role, while hydroxyl radical (•OH-) scavengers are not a principal factor. The stability tests have shown that the nanocomposite was reasonably excellent after five cycles, with a decolorization ability of 68.55% of MO solution. Furthermore, the outcome indicates that Cu2O/Ce2O nanomaterials may be used to cure industrial pollution by eliminating toxic materials.