Visible light-driven photocatalytic activity of Cu <sub>2</sub> O/ZnO/Kaolinite-based composite catalyst for the degradation of organic pollutant
Paulos Asefa Fufa, Gebisa Bekele Feysia, Noto Susanto Gultom, Dong–Hau Kuo, Xiao Yun Chen, Daniel Manaye Kabtamu, Osman Ahmed Zelekew
Abstract
Abstract Herein, we design to synthesize a novel Cu 2 O/ZnO/kaolinite composite catalyst by co-precipitation method. The synthesized composite catalysts were labeled as 5CZK, 10CZK, 15CZK, and 20CZK which represent 5, 10, 15, and 20% of Cu 2 O, respectively, on ZnO/kaolinite. The photocatalyst samples were characterized with different instruments. Moreover, the methylene blue (MB) dye was used as a target organic pollutant and the degradation was evaluated under visible light irradiation. The highest performance for the degradation of MB was achieved by 10CZK catalyst and degrades 93% within 105 min. However, ZnO (Z), Cu 2 O/ZnO (CZ), 5CZK, 15CZK, and 20CZK composite catalysts, degrades 28, 66, 76, 71, and 68% of MB dye, respectively. The enhanced degradation efficiency of 10CZK composites catalyst could be due to the higher adsorption properties from metakaolinite and the light-responsive properties of the Cu 2 O/ZnO samples under visible light. Hence, the resulting composite catalyst could be applicable for environmental remediation.