Study the influence of silver and cobalt on the photocatalytic activity of copper oxide nanoparticles for the degradation of methyl orange and real wastewater dyes

Abstract

CuO (S1) Single pure component nanoparticles (SPCNPs), Ag/CuO (S2) binary component hybrid nanoparticles (BCHNPS), Co1/Ag/CuO (S3), and Co2/Ag/CuO (S4) ternary component hybrid nanoparticles (TCHNPS) were synthesized via co-precipitation method. Several spectroscopic methods investigated the characterization of the prepared catalysts. Based on Crystal properties, CuO exhibit a monoclinic phase (tenorite); the grain size of the prepared samples was 28.15 nm, 29.42 nm, 27.86 nm, and 26.67 nm for S1, S2, S3, and S4 respectively. The addition of different content from Co as a dopant to silver decorated CuO gives a clear change to a flake shape. The presence of the IR absorption peaks in the region 400–600 cm−1 matched to the distinctive stretching vibrations of Cu–O bonds in the monoclinic phase structure of CuO. Disappearance of the Raman peaks of CuO and appearing of the new characteristic peaks of cobalt oxide confirms the doping process. Using DRS analysis, arrange of the bandgap values were S1 > S2 > S3 > S4. For the synthetic methyl orange and raw industrial dye, the photodegradation parameters were measured. The results show the excellent activity of Co2/Ag/CuO NPS compared with other samples. Electrical studies of the catalysts show a higher value for the dielectric constant in the higher and lower frequency regions for the sample S4. The hopping process of the charge carrier’s improving as a result of the increase of applied field frequency which leads to an increase in the material conductivity.