Studies on the photocatalytic performance of cuprous oxide/chitosan nanocomposites activated by visible light

Taking the chitosan nanoparticles prepared by adding only sodium sulfate into acetic acid solution of chitosan as carriers, cuprous oxide/chitosan nanocomposites were prepared by electrochemical deposition. It's found that the needle shaped cuprous oxide nanocrystallines are combined with chitosan particles by chelation. Activated by a visible light, Cu2O/chitosan nanocomposites are used as a photocatalyst in the degradation of brilliant red X-3B of which the initial concentration is set as 50 mg/L. The results show that the best efficiency was obtained when the mass ratio Of CU2O in Cu2O/chitosan nanocomposites was 50%. And after the photocatalytic reaction, the residual copper element concentration can be cut down from 1.545 mg L-1 to 0.337 mg L-1 which is up to the drinking water standard of WHO. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.