Investigating the effectiveness of nano-hybrid Cu–TiO۲/ZnO under visible light irradiation

A visible light responsive photocatalyst, nano-sized copper doped TiO۲/ZnO, was synthesized by sol gel method. It was characterized in terms of thermal stability, crystalline phase, crystal size, morphology, surface area, UV-Vis DRS and band gap. The results showed that the synergistic effect of copper ions considerably narrowed the band gap of the synthesised photocatalyst compared to TiO۲/ZnO. Its photoactivity was then evaluated by measuring degradation efficiency of methyl orange (MO) and methylene blue (MB) in terms of colour, COD and TOC removal. The highest photoactivity achieved was ۸۵.۴۵% of colour, ۷۰.۵۶% of COD and ۴۸.۷۰% of TOC removal for MO and ۷۳.۲۰% of colour, ۵۹.۹۲% of COD and ۳۸.۷۷% of TOC removal for MB under optimal conditions.

Keywords:

Photocatalyst , Band Gap , AOP , Methyl Orange , Methylene Blue