A comprehensive study on the photocatalytic activity of coupled copper oxide-cadmium sulfide nanoparticles

Coupled CdS-CuO nanoparticles (NPs) subjected in the photocatalytic degradation of Methylene blue (MB) aqueous solution. The calcination temperature and the crystallite phase of CuO had a significant role on the photocatalytic activity of the coupled system and CuO200/2h-CdS catalyst (containing CuO calcined at 200 degrees C for 2 h) showed the best photocatalytic activity. The coupled system showed increased activity with respect to the monocomponent semiconductors. The prepared catalysts characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope equipped with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analyzer, x-ray mapping, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques. The best degradation extent of MB was obtained at: C-MB: 1 mg L-1, pH 5, 80 min irradiation time and 0.8 g L-1 of the CuO200/2h-CdS catalyst. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) confirmed about 83% of MB molecules can be mineralized at the optimum conditions. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.