Enhanced Photocatalytic Degradation of Ternary Dyes by Copper Sulfide Nanoparticles

Abstract

We report the effect of thermolysis time on the morphological and optical properties of CuS nanoparticles prepared from Cu(II) dithiocarbamate single-source precursor. The as-prepared copper sulfide nanoparticles were used as photocatalysts for the degradation of crystal violet (CV), methylene blue (MB), rhodamine B (RhB), and a ternary mixture of the three dyes (CV/MB/RhB). Powder XRD patterns confirmed the hexagonal covellite phase for the CuS nanoparticles. At the same time, HRTEM images revealed mixed shapes with a particle size of 31.47 nm for CuS1 prepared at 30 min while CuS2 prepared at 1 h consists of mixtures of hexagonal and nanorods shaped particles with an average size of 21.59 nm. Mixed hexagonal and spherically shaped particles with a size of 17.77 nm were obtained for CuS3 prepared at 2 h. The optical bandgaps of the nanoparticles are 3.00 eV for CuS1, 3.26 eV for CuS2 and 3.13 eV for CuS3. The photocatalytic degradation efficiency showed that CuS3 with the smallest particle size is the most efficient photocatalyst and degraded 85% of CV, 100% of MB, and 81% of RhB. The as-prepared CuS showed good stability and recyclability and also degraded ternary dyes mixture (CV/MB/RhB) effectively. The byproducts of the dye degradation were evaluated using ESI-mass spectrometry.

Aqueous-Based Synthesis of Photocatalytic Copper Sulfide Using Sulfur Waste as Sulfurizing Agent

“…The rate constant of the first order of the waste sample was 0.0725 min −1 , while the rate constant of the reference sample was 0.052 min −1 ( Figure 6 B). It is worth mentioning that the obtained reaction rate constants and degradation efficiency rate correspond to the data reported in the literature [ 28 , 40 ].…”

“…For these reasons, copper sulfide could potentially be used as a material for the production of light-emitting diodes [ 16 ], researchable batteries [ 17 , 18 , 19 ], solar cells [ 4 , 7 , 20 , 21 , 22 ], photoelectronic devices [ 23 ], supercapacitors [ 2 , 24 , 25 ], biosensors [ 26 ], DNA detectors [ 27 ] etc. Moreover, copper sulfides showed outstanding results in various photodegrading dyes under UV or visible light irradiation [ 28 , 29 ].…”

Photocatalytic Degradation of Single and Binary Mixture of Brilliant Green and Rhodamine B Dyes by Zinc Sulfide Quantum Dots

“…However, for brilliant green dye in the mixed dyes, the degradation efficiency decreased from 70.60% to 14.32%, 64.94% and 54.56% by ZnS-1, while with ZnS-2 it decreased from 88.80% to 24.91%, 53.23%, and 70.79%, and by ZnS-3 the degradation efficiency decreased from 98.51% to 36.37%, 84.32%, and 90.81%, respectively. The results indicate that •O 2 − and e − play significant roles in the degradation of rhodamine B compared to •OH − , which agrees with previous reports using other photocatalysts [22,59].…”

“…The same trend was observed with the photocatalytic degradation of the binary dye. The mechanism of the brilliant green and rhodamine B is similar to other studies where tin sulfide and copper sulfide nanoparticles were used as photocatalysts [31,59].…”

Controlled Deposition of Nanostructured Hierarchical TiO2 Thin Films by Low Pressure Supersonic Plasma Jets

“…This is because of their wide range of available chemistries, different shapes of varying sizes, large surface-to-bulk ratios, and quantum-confinement effects at small length scales. Metallic and metal oxide nanoparticles and their thin films play particularly important roles in the advancement [ 1 , 2 ] of sensors [ 3 , 4 , 5 ], photocatalysts [ 6 , 7 ], bio-electronic-based devices [ 8 , 9 ], super-hydrophobic and self-cleaning materials [ 10 , 11 ], and various nanoelectronic devices [ 12 , 13 ]. In addition, light-sensitive diamond films have found applications in space technology [ 14 ], while other types of nanostructured aggregates are promising for the achievement of propulsion systems based on plasma technologies [ 15 , 16 ].…”