Controlled structural and compositional characteristic of visible light active ZnO/CuO photocatalyst for the degradation of organic pollutant

Highlights: • The decoration of CuO on the surface of ZnO were synthesized by hydrothermal growth. • The functional properties of the ZnO/CuO nanostructures were extensively studied. • The formation of ZnO/CuO hetero-junction improved the separation of photogenerated electrons and holes which results in enhanced activity. • The enhanced photocatalytic activity is 10 times higher than pure ZnO. - Abstract: Degradation of organic pollutant using ZnO/CuO composites has become an attractive method for detoxification of water. The effect of copper acetate concentration and the functional properties of nanocomposites were investigated. The morphological analysis revealed that CuO nanoparticles dispersed uniformly on the surface of ZnO nanorods. X-ray photoelectron spectra analysis showed peak shift in the electronic states of Zn and Cu states. Elemental clearly confirms the presence of CuO were uniformly distributed on the surface of ZnO. The photocatalytic activity of ZnO/CuO composites was enhanced compared to pure ZnO under visible light irradiation. The optimal CuO content for the photocatalytic activity of the ZnO/CuO composites is 1%, which is almost ten times higher than that of pure ZnO. Owing to these synergic advantages, the degradation efficiency of ZnO/CuO composites reached 92.52% after 5 min of irradiation. The synergistic photocatalytic mechanism was proposed based on the photodegradation results.