Synthesis of TiO2-CuO mesoporous composite nanoparticles by sol-gel method and evaluation of structural, optical and photocatalytic properties

Given the growing importance of photocatalysts in the industrial wastewater treatment, in this study, TiO2-CuO (TC) composite nanoparticles were synthesized by sol-gel method. Tetrabutyl orthotitanate (TBT), copper nitrate-3hydrate and ethanol were used as titanium dioxide precursor, copper oxide precursor and solvent, respectively. The structural, optical, photocatalytic activity and BET-BJH properties of nanoparticles were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller specific surface area (BET). The results of XRD and BET analysis show that the TiO2-CuO composite reduced the crystallite size and increased the specific surface area. Also the results of XRD, EDX, and MAP analysis confirmed the presence of TiO2, CuO in the nanocomposite. The specific surface area for the pure mesoporous titania (T) and TiO2-CuO (TC) nanocomposite samples are 60.25 282 m2/g and 163.22 m2/g, respectively. Absorption edge (λedg) and band gap energy (Eg) of T and TC samples are 365.7 nm, 3.39 eV and 375 nm and 3.30 eV, respectively. The results of FESEM showed that the particles were somewhat agglomerated and the particle size of the composite sample was 10-15 nm.