Photodegradation of organic dye in water using CuWO4 nanoparticle and CuWO4/NiO nanocomposite: synthesis and characterization

In this work, for the first time, Cu(WO4) nanoparticles and Cu(WO4)/NiO nanocomposite were successfully synthesized using co-precipitation method. The effect of capping agent type and Cu/surfactant ratio on the morphology of as-synthesized nanoparticles were investigated. The Cu (WO4)/NiO nanocomposite was prepared using optimized capping agent with Cu/surfactant ratio = 1:3. The structures and morphologies of as-synthesized materials are characterized via X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX). We evaluated the photocatalytic activity of Cu (WO4) nanoparticle and Cu (WO4)/NiO nanocomposite by the degradation of methyl orange (MO) dye in aqueous solution under UV irradiation. The combination of Cu (WO4)/NiO nanocomposite is expected to become a new generation material for photodegradation with excellent performance. The band gap energies of Cu (WO4) nanoparticle and Cu (WO4)/NiO nanocomposite were estimated 2.8 and 3.2 eV, respectively.