Photocatalytic Degradation of Azo and Rhodamine Dyes Using Copper (II) Oxide Nanoparticles

Abstract

Fresh water pollution by dyes from various industries is raising a lot of concern lately. Despite their well-known toxicity to humans, azo dyes make up over half of the used dye population. Rhodamines are also a well-used class of dyes in industry. This study employed a cost effective, energy efficient, environmentally benign method to degrade Methyl Orange (MeO), Methylene Blue (MB) and Rhodamine B (RhB) dyes. The photocatalyst used was copper (II) oxide (CuO) nano-sized particles synthesised from CuSO4 .5H2O, Cu(NO3 )2 .3H2O and NaOH via a simple solution route with neither a catalyst, template nor a surfactant. The nanoparticles were characterised and used for the photocatalytic degradation of the above dyes in the presence of H2O2 . The CuO nanoparticles synthesised from both copper precursors were found to degrade all dyes effectively over the same degradation time interval, recording an overall minimum degradation efficiency of 85 % and maximum of 99 %.