ABSTRACT
To plan great photocatalytic performance, fast photo-generated charge recombination in nanocatalysts should be repressed. Thus, copper sulphide-Zirconium dioxide (CuS-ZrO2) nanocomposites were synthesised via a facile chemical method. The field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) results indicated that a heterojunctions interface among CuS and ZrO2. XRD analysis showed optimum CuS-ZrO2 photocatalyst with an average diameter of 42.58 nm were found. The UV–vis diffuse reflection spectroscopy (DRS) illustrated that the synthesised CuS-ZrO2 nanocomposites owned the highest absorption intensity in the UV-light range compared with pure ZrO2 nanoparticles. The bandgap (Eg) values of ZrO2 nanoparticles and CuS-ZrO2 nanocomposites were found 3.55 eV, and 2.65 eV, respectively. These characteristic structural and optical property consequence showed that the CuS-ZrO2 nanocomposites with great photocatalysis progress for degradation of tetracycline. Among the different ratio nanocomposites, CuS-ZrO2-2 indicates the highest photocatalytic efficiency (97.15%) in acidic pH and 60 min. Photocatalytic was optimised by response surface methodology with the Box-Behnken model. The study provides a promising photocatalyst to be used for organic pollutant removal in a large scale.
Acknowledgments
The researchers are thanking for the patronage of this project by the Islamic Azad University of Central Tehran Branch.
Disclosure statement
No, potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).