Rapid photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants by Al3+ doped CuO powders under low power visible light and natural sunlight

Abstract

The photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants is a promising approach to deal with dye industry wastes released into water bodies. However rapid, inexpensive, and low power visible light photocatalytic degradation of water pollutants is challenging. This study tries to address these constraints by using inexpensive doped CuO Powders under low-power visible household LED light. Also, direct illumination of sunlight to achieve better photocatalytic degradation, reducing device and operational costs. Further, photocatalytic degradation is enhanced by doping of Al3+ in CuO. Under several optimized conditions, rapid and almost complete degradation of three different dyes, Methylene Blue (MB), Rhodamine B (RhB), and Methyl Orange (MO) were achieved within 6 min of light irradiation under household LED and within 30 min of direct irradiation of sunlight. Even after five times of repeated use of the catalyst, no significant decrease in the photocatalytic activity was observed indicating its stability and sustainability.