An investigation on the synthesis and catalytic activities of pure and Cu-doped zinc oxide nanoparticles

Abstract

The typical polyol reduction method, where PVP was used as capping agent is aimed to synthesize pure and Cu-doped ZnO nanoparticles (NPs). The spherical morphology of as-synthesized NPs was observed under SEM. The NPs having Zn, O, and Cu as major constituents were observed by SEM coupled with EDX. The EDX confirmed the Zn, O, and Cu as major elements of as-synthesized NPs. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies demonstrated crystalline hexagonal structure in all the samples. The band gap of the NPs was determined using UV–vis spectroscopy. The catalytic activities of as-prepared material were investigated for the degradation of dyes like; Methyl Blue (MB), Methyl Red (MR), Thymol Blue (TB), and Alizarine Red.S (ARS), in the presence of H₂O₂. A drastic increase in catalytic activity was observed with the increased concentration of Cu; particularly for MB. All experiments were carried out under mild and environment friendly conditions i.e. without irradiating by sun or UV light. The material was found promising and feasible catalyst for non-photo degradation of dyes, which are present in the wastewaters produced from textile and printing industries.

Keywords:

• polyol synthesis
• ZnO nano catalyst
• degradation
• dyes

Public Interest Statement

The nanocatalysis is promising field due to its general potential, energy saving, and rapid achievements. It has also importance due to having the ease of recovery and again having potential to be reused. Therefore, we have designed a strategy to synthesize pure and doped ZnO nanoparticles which were usually studied as photocatalyst. Now our strategy proved that these are non photocatalyst too. Furthermore, dyes used in textile and print industries are usually carcinogenic. These are mixed in wastewater and finally act as poisons for marine diaspora and terrestrial life. These are cause of widespread of cancer diseases. If our reported catalysts could be used by industrial management, these would act for degrading the dyes and save the water from such pollutants. It would help in saving marine and terrestrial life and give us save environment under mild conditions.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Amen Shahpal

Zahoor Ahmad did PhD from Beijing University of Chemical Technology (BUCT), Beijing PR China. His major was material science and engineering focused on material chemistry. He carried out his research work in domain of composite materials. His main work was synthesis of Ag@polycarzole and Ag@polypyrrol nanocables, their characterization, and properties determinations. Polyol and microwave-assisted polyol synthesis was technique, employed for preparation of nanostructure. He published his first work in Journal of Material Science, Springer publisher in 2009. During post PhD, he optimized nano system for microarrays fabrication and nanocatalysis. He successfully reduced nitro group in amino groups for organic synthetic reactions. He also designed ZnO- and Cu-based semi conducting materials and determined water splitting character of photocatalyst. Currently, he is working on synthesis of nano metals, polymer modification, and organic synthesis.