Open AccessSynthesis of Visible Light Active Delafossite Structured CuCrO2: Optical and Photocatalytic Studies
Author(s) -
N. Arunkumar
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
asian journal of chemistry/asian journal of chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.145
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 0975-427X
pISSN - 0970-7077
DOI - 10.14233/ajchem.2021.22932
Subject(s) - delafossite , chemistry , raman spectroscopy , visible spectrum , powder diffraction , photocatalysis , thermal analysis , nuclear chemistry , analytical chemistry (journal) , crystallography , catalysis , materials science , oxide , thermal , organic chemistry , optics , physics , optoelectronics , meteorology
Synthesis of delafossite structured CuCrO2 by sol-gel method using tartaric acid as a complexingagent is reported in present study. The product has been characterized by powder X-ray diffraction,thermal analysis (TGA/DTA), SEM, Raman spectra, BET (surface area analysis) and UV-Vis-diffusedreflectance spectroscopy. Powder X-ray diffraction revealed the formation of delafossite structuredCuCrO2 phase at 800 ºC for 3 h, which was further confirmed by thermal analysis that showed oneweight loss and endothermic peak at above 800 ºC corresponded to the phase transition. Hexagonalplate like morphology of the synthesized powder was confirmed by SEM analysis. The Raman spectrashowed three Raman scattering peaks of the delafossite structure of CuCrO2. Diffused reflectancespectroscopy (DRS) revealed that the band gap of the prepared CuCrO2 microcrystals was about 2.90eV. In addition, the synthesized CuCrO2 was used for the degradation of p-nitrophenol and H2 generationunder visible-light which showed 32.4 μmol (10.8 μmol/h) of H2 and 92 % degradation of p-nitrophenol(20 mg/L) after 4 h of visible light irradiation. Further analysis revealed that •OH and •O2− were the mainROS responsible for p-nitrophenol degradation.