Synthesis, optical absorption, luminescence, chromaticity, and catalytic properties of undoped CuO and Gd-doped CuO nanostructures for LED devices and waste water treatment applications

Abstract

The first objective of this present investigation is the co-precipitation synthesized of undoped and various concentrations of Gd-doping in the CuO material as a photocatalyst and methylene blue dye under passing solar light radiation, followed by obtaining their photocatalytic degradation efficiency of 88–96%. Using photoluminescence (PL) data of synthesized undoped and 1%, 3%, and 5 wt% Gd-doped CuO to make a chromaticity diagram for identifying the colour coordinates to scrutinize the applications of light-emitting devices. To trace the diffraction peaks, related crystal system, and vibrational bond of undoped and Gd-doped CuO materials by XRD and FT-IR studies. The morphological structure has been varied in each Gd-dopant concentration when compared to undoped CuO nanostructures through SEM studies. The aforementioned material has a narrow band gap and strong visible emission, as identified by UV–visible and PL spectra.