Effect of Photocatalyst Dosage on the Photocatalytic Activity of Copper oxides-Titania Nanocomposite Synthesized on Cu Powder

In this work, the copper oxides-titania nanocomposite was prepared successfully on the pure copperpowder via a simple route of chemical-thermal oxidation followed by the sol-gel method. X-raydiffraction (XRD), Field emission scan electron microscopy (FESEM), and diffuse reflectancespectroscopy (DRS) were performed to characterize the synthesized sample. XRD analysisdemonstrated the presence of two types of copper oxides along with titania in the structure. A specialmorphology including nanorods and nanospheres was found for the specimen. The band gap energy forthe nanocomposite was obtained ۲.۴۲ eV through the DRS technique. The influence of the photocatalystdosage on the photocatalytic performance of the nanocomposite was evaluated using reaction rate andquantum efficiency terms for Isopropanol elimination in the gas phase. Furthermore, the selectivity ofthe products generated in the degradation reaction was investigated. The optimum photocatalyst dosagewas determined ۱ mg/cm۲ based on the superior photocatalytic activity. The highest reaction rate wasobtained about ۷.۹E-۹ mol/m۲s for the optimal amount of photocatalyst. The results showed thatapplying more photocatalyst dosage compared to the optimal value led to decreased photocatalyticperformance. Finally, the stability behavior of the sample was examined by XRD and DRS methods.Similar results were achieved for the fresh and used samples in the gas phase Isopropanol degradationreaction.

Keywords:

Photocatalyst , Copper oxides-titania , Dosage , Activity