Synthesis, Characterization and Application of CuO/ZnO Nanocomposites

Colored organic dyes from industries are mostly non-biodegradable, creating high toxicity to the
aquatic creatures and drastically disturbing the water ecosystem. Semiconductor photocatalysts have
been employed to degrade textile dye pollutants because of their intrinsic properties. CuO/ZnO
nanocomposite photocatalysts were synthesized using simple and low-cost mechanochemical
combustion method. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive
X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and Fourier Transform-Infrared (FT-IR) were used to characterize the
prepared oxides. XRD revealed that the prepared CuO/ZnO exhibit a wurtzite ZnO crystal structure
and the as-synthesized composites were composed of CuO and ZnO. The strong peaks of the Cu, Zn
and O elements are exhibited in the EDX spectrum. The presence of various functional groups (–OH,
–CH, Zn–O) were observed by FTIR. The photocatalytic performances of CuO/ZnO nanocomposites
were investigated for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) aqueous solution in direct solar
irradiation. Degradation value of MB with 5 wt% CuO/ZnO was measured to be 98%, after 150 min of
solar irradiation. Therefore, the photodegradation treatment for the textile wastewater using sunlight is
an easy technique, simply handled and economical.