The novel two step synthesis of CuO/ZnO and CuO/CdO nanocatalysts for enhancement of catalytic activity

Abstract

In the present investigation, Copper oxide (CuO)/Zinc oxide (ZnO) and CuO/cadmium oxide (CdO) nanocomposites (NCs) were fabricated by a simple two-step process involving co-precipitation technique and hydrothermal approach for the first time. The Powder X-ray Diffraction (PXRD) pattern demonstrates the existence of monoclinic, hexagonal and cubic phase structure of CuO/ZnO and CuO/CdO NCs. The absorption spectrum of the material was obtained via UV–Visible Spectroscopy and the band-gap value is calculated using Tauc’s relation as 1.7 eV, 2.8 eV and 2.75 eV respectively for pure, CuO/ZnO and CuO/CdO NCs. The FESEM images gave the spherical and stone-like morphologies in the prepared CuO/ZnO and CuO/CdO NCs. At room temperature, CuO/ZnO and CuO/CdO NCs act as superior catalyst for the reduction of Rhodamine B (RhB) and Malachite Green (MG) dyes and degradation efficiency attained to be 77.26%, 73.15% for RhB and 79.82%, 74.69 for MG, respectively.