Mubeen Khalida, Safeen Kashif, Irshad Afshan, Safeen Akif, Ghani Tayyaba, Shah Wiqar H, Khan Rajwali, Ahmad Khawaja Shafique, Casin Ryan, Rashwan Mohamed A, Elansary Hosam O, Shah Attaullah
Department of Physics and Applied Mathematics, Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS), Nilore, Islamabad, 45650, Pakistan.
National Institute of Lasers and Optoelectronics College, Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nilore, Islamabad, 45650, Pakistan.
Sci Rep. 2023 Nov 9;13(1):19580. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-46780-y.
The removal of toxic dye pigments from the environment is of utmost importance since even trace amounts of these pollutants can lead to harmful impacts on ecosystems. Heterogeneous photocatalysis is a potential technique for eliminating microbiological, inorganic, and organic pollutants from wastewater. Here, we report the band gap alteration of ZnO by making its composites with CuSe to enhance photocatalytic activity. The purpose is to develop metal oxide nanocomposites (ZnO/CuSe) as an effective and efficient material for the photodegradation of methyl blue. The photocatalysts, ZnO nanorods, CuSe, and ZnO/CuSe nanocomposites of different weight ratios were synthesized by the simple and cost-effective technique of precipitation. UV-Vis spectra verified that the ZnO/CuSe photocatalyst improved absorption in the visible region. The optical bandgap of ZnO/CuSe nanocomposites reduced from 3.37 to 2.68 eV when CuSe concentration increased from 10 to 50%. ZnO/CuSe composites demonstrated better photocatalytic activity than ZnO when exposed to UV-visible light. The pure ZnO nanorods could absorb UV light and the nanocomposites could absorb visible light only; this was attributed to the transfer of excited high-energy electrons from ZnO to CuSe.
从环境中去除有毒染料色素至关重要，因为即使是痕量的这些污染物也会对生态系统产生有害影响。多相光催化是一种从废水中去除微生物、无机和有机污染物的潜在技术。在此，我们报告通过制备ZnO与CuSe的复合材料来改变其带隙，以提高光催化活性。目的是开发金属氧化物纳米复合材料（ZnO/CuSe）作为一种有效且高效的材料用于甲基蓝的光降解。通过简单且经济高效的沉淀技术合成了不同重量比的光催化剂ZnO纳米棒、CuSe以及ZnO/CuSe纳米复合材料。紫外可见光谱证实ZnO/CuSe光催化剂在可见光区域的吸收得到改善。当CuSe浓度从10%增加到50%时，ZnO/CuSe纳米复合材料的光学带隙从3.37 eV降低到2.68 eV。当暴露于紫外可见光时，ZnO/CuSe复合材料表现出比ZnO更好的光催化活性。纯ZnO纳米棒只能吸收紫外光，而纳米复合材料只能吸收可见光；这归因于激发的高能电子从ZnO转移到CuSe。
