The influence of Cu doped ZrO2 catalyst for the modification of the rate of a photoreaction and forming microorganism resistance

Pure and copper-doped Zirconium oxide nanoparticles were synthesized using a co-precipitation process and investigated the effect of doping on photocatalytic and anti-microbial activities. The prepared samples are pure tetragonal phase, as shown by the X-ray diffraction pattern, and the crystallite size decreases as the dopant concentration increases. Higher dopant concentrations resulted in needle-shaped morphology, as seen in the SEM image. The presence of Zr, Cu, and O in the sample is confirmed by EDS analysis. According to UV-VIS analysis, when the Cu content is increased, a more significant wavelength absorption band edge is formed, and the band gap reduces with the increase in dopant concentration. All samples have magnetic hysteresis loops with diamagnetic background effects, according to VSM tests. A prominent and influential peak at 485nm in the PL spectra suggests that ZrO2 nanoparticles emit blue light. The produced nanoparticles were utilized as a photocatalyst to degrade Methylene Blue (MB) dye, and the results indicate that a high dopant concentration (0.08wt percent) outperforms pure and other dopant concentrations. Copper-doped ZrO2 has moderate anti-bacterial and anti-fungal activities.