Emerald eco-synthesis: harnessing oleander for green silver nanoparticle production and advancing photocatalytic MB degradation with TiO2&CuO nanocomposite
Amira M. Shawky, Rania Elshypany, Heba M. El Sharkawy, Mahmoud F. Mubarak, Hanaa Selim
Abstract
Abstract The tertiary composite of TiO 2 /CuO @ Ag (TCA) were synthesized by the solid state method using different ratios of TiO 2 /CuO NCs and Ag NPs. The structural, morphological, and optical properties of nanocomposites were analyzed by scanning electron microscope, Transmission electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectra, UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectra (UV–Vis/DRS) and photoluminescence spectrophotometry. The results showed enhanced activity of TCA hybrid nano crystals in oxidizing MB in water under visible light irradiation compared to pure TiO 2 . The photocatalytic performance TCA samples increased with suitable Ag content. The results show that the photo degradation efficiency of the TiO 2 compound improved from 13 to 85% in the presence of TiO 2 –CuO and to 98.87% in the presence of Ag containing TiO 2 –CuO, which is 7.6 times higher than that of TiO 2 . Optical characterization results show enhanced nanocomposite absorption in the visible region with long lifetimes between e/h+ at optimal TiO 2 –CuO/Ag (TCA 2 ) ratio. Reusable experiments indicated that the prepared TCA NC photo catalysts were stable during MB photo degradation and had practical applications for environmental remediation.