Development of scalable and flexible sheets of copper based heterojunction photocatalyst for the degradation of organic toxic dyes in an aqueous system

Abstract

Nanotechnology is one of the extremely powerful technologies, which holds vast promise for the design and development of many types of novel products. Nanotechnology is an emerging field, and it aims to produce nanostructure particles having more significant and improved properties than those of bulk materials (Valden, 1998. Rodriguez et al. 2002). At present, nanotechnology finds many ways to increase its level of expected applications from quotbottom-upquot and top-down approaches. In the bottom-up approach (such as self-assembly), the materials and devices are constructs from tiny atomic or molecular components which gather themselves chemically by principles behind the molecular assimilation. Similarly, in the quottop-downquot approach, nano-objects are created by breaking larger entities using various precise tools. As a result of this concern, aspects of low stability in bulk materials can become very stable in nanostructures. This structural phenomenon has been detected in some metal oxide nanoparticles such as Al2O3, TiO2, VOx, and MoOx (Samsonov et al. 2003). The oxide of copper (CuxO) is received much attention in recent research advancement due to its fascinating optical, electrical, thermal, and magnetic properties. It possesses three distinctly different phases including CuO, Cu2O, and Cu4O3, as shown in Figure. 1.2. Further, it has special attractive attention because of its antimicrobial and biocide capability. CuO is a p-type semiconductor material with a narrow band gap (1.2 eV in bulk), which is one of the natural abundances and non-toxic materials. It receives much attention in recent research because of its low cost, adequate availability, and its distinct properties. newline