Electrochemical synthesis of CuO–ZnO for enhanced the degradation of Brilliant Blue (FCF) by sono-photocatalysis and sonocatalysis: kinetic and optimization study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to improve the synthesis condition of the CuO–ZnO nanocomposite using a two-step protocol. Initially, an electrodeposition method was used to synthesize CuO nanoparticles (Nps) at different current densities (25–40–53A/dm2) then assembled with ZnO Nps via a milling process to obtain different catalysts. The performance of this new composite was evaluated by characterizing the nanocomposite with XRD, FE-SEM, FTIR, BET, BJH, pHzpc, UV-DRS and then comparing it with the sonocatalysis and sonophotocatalysis degradations of dye Brilliant Blue FCF (BBF). The preliminary results of the kinetic study and a structural characterization of the nanocomposite showed that the CuO–ZnO synthesis at low current density was an efficient catalyst to degrade BBF with a bigger surface area of 50.63 m2 g−1 and a pH zpc of 8.2. Furthermore, the optimization of operational parameters such as the synthesis temperature (300–500 °C), the mass ratio of CuO:ZnO (2–10%) and the catalyst dose (0.5–2 g L−1) was studied by a central composite design (CCD) using the NEMROOD Software. The adjustment of the model demonstrates an agreement between the experimental and predicted data as shown by the high values of the correlation coefficient (R2photosono = 0.999, R2sono = 0.998).