Facile synthesis of 2D CuO nanoleaves for the catalytic elimination of hazardous and toxic dyes from aqueous phase: a sustainable approach

This article reports for the first time a facile, green synthesis of 2D CuO nanoleaves (NLs) using the amino acid, namely aspartic acid, and NaOH by a microwave heating method. The amino acid acts as a complexing/capping agent in the synthesis of CuO NLs. This method resulted in the formation of self-assembled 2D CuO NLs with an average length and width of similar to 300-400 and similar to 50-82 nm, respectively. The as-synthesized 2D CuO NLs were built up from the primary CuO nanoparticles by oriented attachment growth mechanism. The CuO NLs were characterized by an X-ray diffraction (XRD) method, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected-area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The optical properties were investigated using UV-visible spectroscopy. For the first time, rose bengal and eosin Y dyes were degraded photochemically by solar irradiation using CuO NLs as a photocatalyst. The synthesized CuO NLs act as an efficient photocatalyst in the degradation of rose bengal and eosin Y dye under direct sunlight. The degradation of both the dyes, namely rose bengal and eosin Y, took place within 120 and 45 min, respectively, using CuO NLs as a photocatalyst, whereas commercial CuO, SnO2 quantum dots (QDs), and commercial SnO2 took more than 120 and 45 min for the degradation of rose bengal and eosin Y, respectively. The synthesized CuO NLs showed a superior photocatalytic activity as compared to that of commercial CuO, SnO2 QDs, and commercial SnO2. The reusability of the CuO NLs as a photocatalyst in the degradation of dyes was investigated, and it was evident that the catalytic efficiency decreases to a small extent (5-6 %) after the fifth cycle of operation.