Facile green synthesis of CuO- ZnO nanocomposites from Argyreia nervosa leaves extract for photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B dye

• Published in: Biomass conversion and biorefinery 2024, Vol.14 (22), p.28117-28132
• Main Authors: Gbair, Ghufran Ammar, Alshamsi, Hassan A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biotechnology; Chemical synthesis; Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy; Dyes; Efficiency; Electron microscopy; Energy; Field emission microscopy; Fourier transforms; Hydroxyl radicals; Infrared spectroscopy; Microscopy; Nanocomposites; Nanomaterials; Nanostructure; Original Article; Photocatalysis; Photocatalysts; Photodegradation; Radiation dosage; Renewable and Green Energy; Rhodamine; Spectrum analysis; Zinc oxide
• ISSN: 2190-6815; 2190-6823
• DOI: 10.1007/s13399-022-03408-x

In this work, ZnO, CuO, and CuO-ZnO nanomaterials have been synthesized via green and facile route using Argyreia nervosa leaf extract. The structural, morphological, optical, chemical, and textural characteristics of as-synthesized nanostructures were investigated using different techniques including X-ray diffraction (XRD); field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM); transmission electron microscopy (TEM);UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR); Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET)/Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH); and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Results obtained from the characterization study showed that the ZnO, CuO, and CuO-ZnO were successfully synthesized using the leaf extract of A. nervosa. The results exhibited the homogeneously growth of CuO particles on the surface of ZnO particles in a spherical-like shapes. The photocatalytic degradation efficiency of the synthesized nanostructures was investigated adopting Rhodamine B dye as an aqueous polluted model. The results have shown that the CuO-ZnO (10%) nanocomposite was the most efficient photocatalyst compared to other samples. The factors affecting the photodegradation process such as the effect of irradiation time (0–180 min), photocatalyst dose (0.4–1.4 g/L), initial RhB concentration (5–20 ppm), and the solution pH (3–11) were tested. The maximum photocatalytic degradation efficiency achieved was 90.25%. Additionally, reuse experiments proved that the CuO-ZnO (10%) photocatalyst retained 72.8% of its initial efficiency after recycling for five cycles. Finally, the results revealed that the most reactive oxygen species (ROS) responsible for the degradation of RhB are hydroxyl radicals (•OH).