Biological Renewable Cellulose-Templated Zn1- XCu X O/Ag2O Nanocomposite Photocatalysts for the Degradation of Methylene Blue

Biruktait Ayele Lemecho; Dinsefa Mensur Andoshe; Noto Susanto Gultom; Hairus Abdullah; Dong-Hau Kuo; Xiaoyun Chen; Temesgen D Desissa; Demeke Tesfaye Wondimageng; Yi-Nan Wu; Osman Ahmed Zelekew

doi:10.1021/acsomega.3c08051

Biological Renewable Cellulose-Templated Zn_{1- X}Cu _X O/Ag₂O Nanocomposite Photocatalysts for the Degradation of Methylene Blue

ACS Omega. 2024 Mar 13;9(12):13714-13727. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.3c08051. eCollection 2024 Mar 26.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Adama Science and Technology University, Adama 1888, Ethiopia.
² Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei 10607, Taiwan.
³ College of Materials Engineering, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China.
⁴ College of Environmental Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Rd., Shanghai 200092, China.
⁵ Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China.

Abstract

Herein, Cellulose-templated Zn_1-XCu_XO/Ag₂O nanocomposites were prepared using biological renewable cellulose extracted from water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes). Cellulose-templated Cu-doped ZnO catalysts with different amounts of Cu as the dopants (1, 2, 3, and 4%) were prepared and denoted CZ-1, CZ-2, CZ-3, and CZ-4, respectively, for simplicity. The prepared catalysts were tested for the degradation of methylene blue (MB), and 2% Cu-doped ZnO (CZ-2) showed the best catalytic performance (82%), while the pure ZnO, CZ-1, CZ-3, and CZ-4 catalysts exhibited MB dye degradation efficiencies of 54, 63, 65, and 60%, respectively. The best catalyst (CZ-2) was chosen to further improve the degradation efficiency. Different amounts of AgNO₃ (10, 15, 30, and 45 mg) were used for the deposition of Ag₂O on the surface of CZ-2 and denoted CZA-10, CZA-15, CZA-30, and CZA-45, respectively. Among the composite catalysts, CZA-15 showed remarkable degradation efficiency and degraded 94% of MB, while the CZA-10, CZA-30, and CZA-45 catalysts showed 90, 81, and 79% degradation efficiencies, respectively, under visible light within 100 min of irradiation. The enhanced catalytic performance could be due to the smaller particle size, the higher electron and hole separation and charge transfer efficiencies, and the lower agglomeration in the composite catalyst system. The results also demonstrated that the Cu-doped ZnO prepared with cellulose as a template, followed by the optimum amount of Ag₂O deposition, could have promising applications in the degradation of organic pollutants.