Abstract
CuO-NiO-TiO2 nanocomposites with of 0.01–5.0 wt.% of Cu:Ni (1:1) supported on TiO2 were prepared by a decomposition method. The catalysts structure and chemical composition were studied by means of XRD, SEM, EDX, TEM, FT-IR, UV–DRS, BET-analysis and compared for direct sunlight photo-degradation of methylene blue with commercial P25 catalyst. These studies revealed that the catalyst efficiency solely depends on the percentage of Cu-Ni dopants. The catalyst with low metal dopants displayed better photocatalytic activity. The optimum doping concentration for photo-degradation was 0.05 wt.%. The nanocomposite with higher metal loading (5.0 wt.%) was effectively employed as heterogenous catalyst for selective reduction of nitro benzene to aniline using sodium borohydride and for air oxidation of tertiary amine functionality to a tertiary amide. The synergistic effect of the metals was confirmed by comparing the catalytic activity with individual metal dopings.
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