Electrogenerated Copper Supported Zinc Oxide for Degradation of 2,4-Dichlorophenol

Abstract

Copper (Cu) was deposited on two different types of zinc oxide (ZnO), namely commercial ZnO (CZ) and mesoporous zinc oxide (MZ), using a simple electrolysis technique. The catalysts were characterized by XRD, FTIR, BET and UV-Vis DRS. The synergistic effect between Cu, CZ and MZ was tested in the degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) under visible light irradiation. Cu-MZ exhibited the best performance with 97% degradation compared to MZ, Cu-CZ, CZ and CuO with 80%, 70%, 55% and 49%, respectively. The introduction of Cu in CZ and MZ was found to decrease the band gap energy of ZnO from 3.20 to 3.05 eV and 2.90 to 2.60 eV, respectively. The role of Cu in reducing the band gap energy of Cu-CZ and Cu-MZ probably contributed significantly to the good photocatalytic degradation of 2,4-DCP.