Fabrication and characterization of copper/cobalt sulfides catalyst on nickel substrate with enhanced monopersulfate-activated degradation of industrial dyes

Abstract

This research aims to create a new material based on metal sulfides which have 3D hierarchical nanostructures for the purpose of monopersulfate (MPS) activation. Notably, the creation of a 3D catalyst with a hierarchical structure involved the growth of CuCo-layered double hydroxide (LDH) upon a nickel substrate, with subsequent direct sulfurization, producing CuS/CoS/NF (CCSNF). X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nitrogen physisorption analysis, and UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy were employed to evaluate the structures, morphologies, chemical bonds, pore size distribution, surface area, and optical properties of the samples in the study. To assess the catalytic activity of the samples, the decomposition of methylene blue, methyl orange, methyl red, and rhodamine B was examined. In comparison to CuCo-LDH/NF (CCHNF) and CuCo2O4/NF (CCONF), CCSNF was demonstrated to offer enhanced chemical and physical properties, such as greater pore volume and surface area. The morphology of CCSNF is unusual in taking the form of floral bunches which comprise nano-needles on a nickel substrate surface. The catalytic degradation efficiency for CCSNF reached 99% after 1 h. This catalyst could be re-used while offering a high level of stability. Further experiments were then conducted to determine and validate the activation mechanism and pathway of dye degradation using by MPS activated by CCSNF.