Production of CuO–WO3 hybrids and their dye removal capacity/performance from wastewater by adsorption/photocatalysis

Abstract

In this study, it is aimed to develop a hybrid bi-functional material which will enable the removal of common industrial toxic dyes in wastewater via adsorption/photocatalysis reactions. For this purpose, WO3 nanofibers and CuO particles were synthesized using electrospinning and hydrothermal synthesis methods, respectively. WO3 nanofibers were combined with different amounts of CuO particles by a simple dispersion dropping technique. Structural, morphological and optical properties of the samples were characterized by XRD, Raman, FT-IR, XPS, SEM, TEM, UV–vis, and Mott-Schottky measurements. The adsorption capacity and photocatalytic behavior of the hybrids were compared with pure WO3 nanofibers under visible light irradiations. Experimental results have shown that the hybrid samples containing only 0.75 wt.% CuO could adsorb 38.4% higher and degraded 25.7% faster the methylene blue dye compared to pure WO3 nanofibers. This improved adsorption and degradation behavior of the hybrids were discussed in detail based on the structural properties, Z-scheme heterojunction formation, and using Langmuir/Freundlich isotherm and kinetic models.