Study on Fabrication and investigation of the effects of copper salt precursor with different anions SO42-, Cl-, CH3COO- and NO3- on the structure and photocatalytic properties for decomposition of methyl orange dye of octahedral Cu2O nanoparticles

Abstract

The octahedra single-phase Cu₂O nanoparticles were fabricated from copper salts precursors with different anions including SO₄^2-, Cl^-, CH₃COO^- and NO₃^-. The prepared materials were characterized by: XRD, Raman shift, SEM, solid UV-vis absorption spectra. The photocatalytic activity and decomposition reaction kinetics for methyl orange dye of the prepared Cu₂O samples under visible light irradiation were also studied in this experiment. The results showed that the fabricated Cu₂O materials all had a nanometer-sized crystal particles arranged in about of 300-1000 nm with the octahedral particle shape. The narrow optical gap energy of Cu₂O samples achieved Eg» 1.83-2.01 eV. The fabricated Cu₂O samples all had the high photocatalytic efficiency in decomposition of methyl orange dye (MO) under visible light when added with H₂O₂ assisted catalyst. The photocatalytic efficiency of the Cu₂O-(SO₄^2-)/H₂O₂ sample was the highest, reaching 99.2% with the rate constant k= 0.10132 min^-1. The photocatalytic efficiency of the Cu₂O-(CH₃COO^-)/H₂O₂ sample was the smallest, reaching 97.6% with the rate constant k= 0.09098 min^-1.