Pechini sol-gel synthesis of Cu2O/Li3BO3 and CuO/Li3BO3 nanocomposites for visible light-driven photocatalytic degradation of dye pollutant

Cu2O/Li3BO3 and CuO/Li3BO3 nanocomposites were prepared by a modified Pechini sol-gel method. This study indicates that by controlling the process parameters such as type of chelating agent, gelling agent and mole ratio of chelating agent to total metal salts, the various sizes and morphologies of the Cu2O/Li3BO3 nanocomposites can be prepared. The properties of Cu2O/Li3BO3 product were evaluated by using SEM, EDS, XRD, DRS, FT-IR, BET, TEM, HRTEM and VSM analysis. Furthermore, the Cu2O/Li3BO3 nanocomposites exhibited excellent photocatalytic activity for degradation of acid violet 7 as azo dye pollutant under visible light irradiation. Also, the radical trapping test illustrated that the superoxide radicals and holes were the prevailing active species in the photocatalytic performance. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.