Facile synthesis and characterization of β-cobalt hydroxide/hydrohausmannite/ramsdellitee/spertiniite and tenorite/cobalt manganese oxide/manganese oxide as novel nanocomposites for efficient photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye

Abstract

In this paper, our research team has synthesized new nanocomposites by simple precipitation/ignition method and using low-cost chemicals. Hence, β-cobalt hydroxide/hydrohausmannite/ramsdellitee/spertiniite and tenorite/cobalt manganese oxide/manganese oxide new nanocomposites were synthesized by precipitation of Mn(II)/Co(II)/Cu(II) solution using sodium hydroxide and ignition of precipitate at 700 °C for 3 hrs, respectively. The synthesized nanocomposites were characterized using different instruments such as energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), nitrogen gas sorption analyzer, and UV–vis spectrophotometer. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis revealed that the nanocomposite formed as a result of precipitation consists of copper, cobalt, manganese, and oxygen where the weight percentages are equal to 31.73, 27.01, 17.26, and 24 %, respectively. Also, the nanocomposite formed as a result of ignition consists of copper, cobalt, manganese, and oxygen where the weight percentages are equal to 31.26, 23.87, 14.56, and 30.31 %, respectively. Transmission electron microscope revealed that the nanocomposites formed as a result of precipitation and ignition consist of polyhedral and spherical shapes with an average diameter of 34.50 and 28.56 nm, respectively. The synthesized nanocomposites were used as new photocatalysts for the efficient degradation of methylene blue dye. 0.05 g of the synthesized nanocomposites degrade 100 % of 50 mL of 15 mg/L of methylene blue dye solution within 25 min in the presence of H2O2 under UV light.