Production and Investigation of Natural Zeolite-TiO2/CuO Nanoparticles Composite

With the progress of various industries, the ever-increasing production of polluting wastewater has faced mankind with the concern of preserving the environment and providing clean water. The simultaneous use of adsorbents such as natural zeolite and nanophotocatalysts is one of the attractive methods. By doing this, while eliminating the limitations of each, synergy in properties occurs and the performance of pollution removal is improved. In this article, TiO2/CuO nanocomposite was deposited on natural zeolite particles. The produced samples were evaluated and compared with different analyses. The results showed that the presence of the TiO2-7.5% CuO (TC) nanoparticles has improved the ability to absorb UV light despite reducing the specific surface area. The performance of the zeolite-TC combination on the removal of methyl orange (MeO) showed acceptable results. The zeolite sample containing 15%TC with a specific surface area of 29 m2/g and band gap of 3.08 eV removed 93% of MeO dye after 120 min.