Synthesis and characterization of copper ferrite nanocomposite from discarded printed circuit boards as an effective photocatalyst for Congo red dye degradation

Abstract

The copper ferrite nanocomposite (CFN) was synthesized by solvothermal process in presence of leachate powder discarded printed circuit boards, ethylene glycol as a chelating agent, utilizing sodium hydroxide as precipitator at pH 12. The discarded PCBs contain excess amounts of precious metals, which makes them an attractive secondary resource. The synthesized CFN was characterized using XRD, SEM-EDS, UV–Vis, and FTIR. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that the copper ferrite particles are spherical shape with the crystallite size in the range of 20–50 nm. The calculated lattice parameters are in agreement with the described values such as average particle size of 19 nm and 8 nm for CFN-10 and CFN-20 respectively. The Kubelka-Munk plot showed bandgaps of 3.20 eV and 3.17 eV respectively. CFN-10 and CFN-20 exhibited notable photocatalytic degradation towards carcinogenic Congo red dye under UV-light irradiation with 86.48 and 96.19% degradation rates within 120 min. Rendering to the findings of this research work, the synthesis of copper ferrite nanocomposites has a great potential for Congo red dye breakdown, which makes it an effective, low cost and environmentally suitable solution for the clean-up of waste water.