Synthesis of Cu: CuO/WO3 Nanocomposite as an Effective Photocatalyst for Degradation of Methylene Blue
Subject Areas : Nano
Keywords: Contaminants, Nanocomposites, Cu:CuO/WO3, Methylene Blue,
Abstract :
Cu:CuO/WO3 nanocomposite was synthesized and characterized by Brunauer Emmett and Teller (BET), Ultraviolet-Visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), Field Emission-Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM), Energy Dispersive X-Ray (EDX), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Diffuse Reflection Spectroscopy (DRS) and consequently applied for methylene blue (MB) photo-degradation. The contribution of various parameters such as initial MB concentration, Cu:CuO/WO3 content, light exposure time by LED light and pH (main and interaction) on the MB elimination efficiency was studied in the designed reactor. The response surface methodology (RSM) corresponding to the central composite design (CCD) model was used for the Examination of the influence of parameters. MB concentration and the influence of the amount of photo-catalyst on MB degradation reveals that decreasing the amount of photo-catalyst is proportional to diminishing process efficiency. Good agreement between the experimental and the predicted results shows the applicability of the model for effective degradation of MB in aqueous media. According to the predicted and the experimental results in the design of the experiment, Photo-degradation efficiency in optimal conditions of 25 mg of MB, pH = 5, 0.07 g of photo-catalyst over 50 min light exposure, were 99.17 and 99.02%, respectively., while present photo-catalyst is applicable for stable and approximately quantitative degradation of MB over 5 cycles without significant change in the efficiency. In addition, the kinetic of the process under study follows the quasi-first-order model.