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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 %

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Mbu, E.E. et al. Photocatalytic degradation of azo and rhodamine dyes using copper (ii) oxide nanoparticles. 10th International Conference on Advances in Science, Engineering, Technology & Healthcare (ASETH-18), 19-20 Nov 2018, Cape Town, South Africa: 20-23. [https://doi.org/10.17758/EARES4.EAP1118210]

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