ANALYSIS ON PHOTOCATALYTIC DYE DEGRADATION OF COPPER DOPED ZINC OXIDE NANOPARTICLES

Abstract

Copper-doped Zinc Oxide nanoparticles were synthesized by viable hydrothermal method.Structural, morphological, and optical studies were done to characterize the material’s properties. X-ray Diffraction analysis showed that the nanoparticles have a hexagonal wurtzite structure without having any other impurity peaks. Surface morphology of prepared samples characterized using Field Emission Scanning Electron microscopy showed nanorod morphology. The UV- Visible spectra showed variation in bandgap energy of the prepared samples by doping low composition Cu on ZnO nanostructure. It is found that the optical properties of nanorods can be simply tuned by changing the doping concentration. The prepared samples were tested as adsorbents to study the dye degradation potential of ZnO and Cu doped samples by taking Methylene Blue (MB) as a model dye. The highest degradation efficiency was observed for 2.5% Cu doped ZnO nano catalyst with a small crystalline size The results thus reveal the practical applicability of prepared samples in photodegradation applications.