Hydrothermal synthesis of novel Zn doped CuO nanoflowers as an efficient photodegradation material for textile dyes

In this article, the investigations on the doping of cupric oxide (CuO) nanorods with Zn(II) ions and their photocatalytic properties have been reported. The Zn doped CuO nanoflowers were synthesized by hydrothermal method using three different concentrations of Zn (II) ions, without structure directing agent. The presence of Zn ions exhibits CuO growth with monoclinic structure which favors the formation of nanoflowers morphology. The crystalline structure, morphology and the optical properties of the obtained nanostructures were characterized using XRD, FESEM/EDX and UV-visible spectrometer. The photocatalytic performance of the prepared Zn-CuO nanoflowers was examined for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) and methylene violet (MV) under UV irradiation. 0.07 M Zn-CuO nanoflowers exhibited the highest degradation rate of 1.7175 h(-1) for MB and 2.383 h(-1) for MV. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.