DEVELOPMENT OF EFFICIENT TERNARY GRAPHENE/CU0/ZNO NANOCOMPOSITE FOR PHOTOCATALYTIC DEGRADATION OF METHYL ORANGE UNDER SUNLIGHT

ABSTRACT The scalabale and economical synthesis approach of nanomaterials has always been demanded since their discovery as very useful materials in the degradation of hazardous dyes. In this study, the synthesis of an effective graphene/CuO/ZnO nanocomposite was carried out using hydrothermal and microwave-assisted synthesis approach. ZnO nanorods were made by the hydrothermal technique of synthesis, whereas CuO and graphite nanomaterials were made with the use of a microwave. Using UV-Vis spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD), the produced samples were examined. XRD was used to validate the hexagonal lattice structure of graphene, the hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO, the monoclimic structure of CuO, and a combination of the structural composition of the nanoparticles for the nanocomposite, while UV-Vis spectroscopy was used to measure the optical properties of the synthesized nanomaterials and temary nanocomposite. The band gap of ZnO, CuO, Graphite nanomaterials and the Zn0/CuO/Graphite nanocomposite are estimated to be 3.15¢V, 2.63¢V, 3.25¢V and 2.9¢V respectively. Characterization results demonstrated that synthesized nanoparticles and ternary nanocomposite with least band gap energy have potential photocatalytic ability for degradation of dyes. This study also demonstrated that hydrothermal and microwave-assisted nanoparticle synthesis can serve as scalable and effective methods of synthesizing photocatalyst for the degradation of industrial dyes.