Simple microwave-assisted synthesis of Cu@CuSO4 as co-catalyst of TiO2 for photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue

In the present study, for the first time Cu-core/CuSO4-shell nanoparticles were prepared through a microwave-assisted route. Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) played role as a surfactant and sulfur precursor to produce Cu@CuSO4 nanoparticles. CuSO4 shell is uniformly coated on the whole surface of Cu nanoparticles. The obtained Cu@CuSO4 nanoparticles exhibited higher photocatalytic efficiency than Cu nanoparticles and these results proved that CuSO4-shell has significant effect on the photocatalytic efficiency. Furthermore, the efficiency of Cu@CuSO4 nanoparticles as a co-photocatalyst for the decolorization of methylene blue (MB) using visible light irradiation has been evaluated. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.