An investigation on the synthesis and catalytic activities of pure and Cu-doped zinc oxide nanoparticles

Abstract The typical polyol reduction method, where PVP was used as capping agent is aimed to synthesize pure and Cu-doped ZnO nanoparticles (NPs). The spherical morphology of as-synthesized NPs was observed under SEM. The NPs having Zn, O, and Cu as major constituents were observed by SEM coupled with EDX. The EDX confirmed the Zn, O, and Cu as major elements of as-synthesized NPs. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies demonstrated crystalline hexagonal structure in all the samples. The band gap of the NPs was determined using UV–vis spectroscopy. The catalytic activities of as-prepared material were investigated for the degradation of dyes like; Methyl Blue (MB), Methyl Red (MR), Thymol Blue (TB), and Alizarine Red.S (ARS), in the presence of H2O2. A drastic increase in catalytic activity was observed with the increased concentration of Cu; particularly for MB. All experiments were carried out under mild and environment friendly conditions i.e. without irradiating by sun or UV light. The material was found promising and feasible catalyst for non-photo degradation of dyes, which are present in the wastewaters produced from textile and printing industries.