Open AccessNiO/CuO/TiO2 Ternary Composites: Development, Physicochemical Characterization and Photocatalytic Degradation Study Over Reactive Orange 30 Solutions Under Solar Light Irradiation
Author(s) -
A. Muthamilarasu,
S. Sivakumar,
G. Divya,
Murugesan Sivakumar,
D. Sakthi
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
advances in materials science/advances in materials sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2083-4799
pISSN - 1730-2439
DOI - 10.2478/adms-2022-0003
Subject(s) - non blocking i/o , materials science , photocatalysis , ternary operation , methyl orange , composite material , visible spectrum , chemical engineering , aqueous solution , nuclear chemistry , catalysis , chemistry , optoelectronics , organic chemistry , computer science , engineering , programming language
The photocatalytic degradation and mineralization of Reactive Orange 30 on NiO/CuO/TiO 2 ternary composites have been studied using solar light irradiation. The NiO/CuO/TiO 2 ternary composites were prepared by producing ethanolic dispersions containing varied amounts of NiO and CuO/TiO 2 (3wt% to 15wt.%), followed by annealing at 300 °C. SEM, UV- Vis DRS, PL, XRD and FTIR analysis have been used to characterize the unary (parent photocatalysts), binary and ternary composites. Under solar light irradiation, NiO/CuO/TiO 2 ternary composites exhibited an excellent photocatalytic activity in degradation of reactive orange 30 in aqueous solution, whereas the NiO/TiO 2 , CuO/TiO 2 and bare photocatalyst such as NiO, CuO, TiO 2 showed lower activities. It was deduced that the remarkable visible-light absorption phenomenon and band gap reduction of the NiO/CuO/TiO 2 ternary composites taking place. It paves way for the photogenerated electron transfer between CB of the NiO, CuO, TiO 2 semiconductors and also holes shifting between VB of above mentioned materials. The NiO/CuO/TiO 2 ternary composite shows good photostability and the photocatalyst retains 94% of its initial activity in the seventh cycle, respectively.