Mahmood Zahid, Alamzeb Muhammad, Ghous Tahseen, Rashid Sidra, Ali Zulfiqar
Department of Chemistry, Mirpur University of Science and Technology (MUST), Mirpur, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan.
Department of Chemistry, University of Kotli, Kotli, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan.
Microsc Res Tech. 2025 Mar 31. doi: 10.1002/jemt.24867.
Cost-effective, sustainable, and eco-friendly strategies are crucial for treating organic pollutants in industrial wastewater. ZnO is a promising photocatalyst due to its affordability, environmentally benign nature, and ability to fully mineralize pollutants. However, its limited effectiveness under visible light is a major drawback. Ni doping helps reduce charge carrier recombination, enhancing the photocatalytic activity of ZnO. Ni-Cu co-doping increases saturation magnetization by creating intrinsic defects, though it can lead to nanocluster formation on the catalyst surface. Ag further improves the performance by preventing nanocluster aggregation and prolonging charge carrier lifetimes. In this study, Ni-Cu-Ag@ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized via the sol-gel method and used as a photocatalyst for the degradation of Synozol navy blue dye. Characterization techniques like FTIR, SEM, XRD, EDX, BET, UV, and PL confirmed the nanocomposite structure and morphology. The Ni-Cu-Ag@ZnO nanocomposite achieved 88% photodegradation efficiency under optimal conditions (a contact time of 50 min, an initial dye concentration of 75 ppm, a catalyst dosage of 0.03 g, and an acidic medium with a pH of 2). The rate constants, k (2 × 10 min) suggest that the degradation of Synozol navy blue by Ni-Cu-Ag@ZnO under ordinary light follows pseudo-first-order kinetics. Scavenging tests further confirmed that the enhanced photocatalytic degradation was driven by the generation of OH radicals, with the addition of hydrogen peroxide playing a key role in preventing electron-hole recombination. This indicates that the quantity of hydroxyl radicals and their adsorption on the photocatalyst are crucial in determining the extent of degradation. This study highlights the potential of Ni-Cu-Ag@ZnO nanocomposites for industrial wastewater treatment and opens new avenues for the further enhancement of the photocatalytic efficiency of other catalysts under consideration.
具有成本效益、可持续且环保的策略对于处理工业废水中的有机污染物至关重要。氧化锌（ZnO）因其价格低廉、环境友好的性质以及能够使污染物完全矿化的能力，是一种很有前景的光催化剂。然而，其在可见光下有限的有效性是一个主要缺点。镍（Ni）掺杂有助于减少载流子复合，增强ZnO的光催化活性。镍 - 铜（Ni - Cu）共掺杂通过产生固有缺陷增加饱和磁化强度，尽管这可能导致催化剂表面形成纳米团簇。银（Ag）通过防止纳米团簇聚集和延长载流子寿命进一步提高性能。在本研究中，通过溶胶 - 凝胶法合成了Ni - Cu - Ag@ZnO纳米颗粒，并将其用作光催化剂用于降解Synozol海军蓝染料。傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）、扫描电子显微镜（SEM）、X射线衍射（XRD）、能量散射X射线光谱（EDX）、比表面积分析仪（BET）、紫外可见光谱（UV）和光致发光光谱（PL）等表征技术证实了纳米复合材料的结构和形态。在最佳条件下（接触时间50分钟、初始染料浓度75 ppm、催化剂用量0.03 g以及pH为2的酸性介质），Ni - Cu - Ag@ZnO纳米复合材料实现了88%的光降解效率。速率常数k（2×10⁻³ min⁻¹）表明，在普通光下Ni - Cu - Ag@ZnO对Synozol海军蓝的降解遵循准一级动力学。清除试验进一步证实，增强的光催化降解是由羟基自由基（·OH）的产生驱动的，添加过氧化氢在防止电子 - 空穴复合方面起关键作用。这表明羟基自由基的数量及其在光催化剂上的吸附对于确定降解程度至关重要。本研究突出了Ni - Cu - Ag@ZnO纳米复合材料在工业废水处理中的潜力，并为进一步提高其他正在研究的催化剂的光催化效率开辟了新途径。
