Abstract
Nanostructured CuO thin films were synthesized by thermal evaporation and annealing. Structural, optical and morphological changes in the CuO film upon annealing and their overall impact on its photocatalytic activity were investigated employing X-ray diffraction, UV–Vis absorption spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy. Significant modifications in the morphological, optical, structural and photocatalytic behavior of nanostructured CuO thin film were observed upon thermal annealing. Thermal annealing led to the growth of CuO nanoparticles and the average size of CuO nanoparticles increased from 23 nm to 293 nm as the annealing temperature was increased to 600oC. CuO thin film sample annealed at 400 °C exhibited superior photocatalytic activities over other samples for the degradation of malachite green and methylene blue dyes in 120 and 160 min, respectively. The improved photocatalytic behavior of CuO thin film annealed at 400 °C is attributed to its narrower band gap, improved utilization of sunlight and enhanced adsorption of dye due to increased surface area arising from formation of CuO nanoparticles and their aggregates at the surface.
Published Version
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