Eco-friendly synthesis of self-regenerative low-cost biosorbent by the incorporation of CuO: a photocatalyst sensitive to visible light irradiation for azo dye removal

Khaled, Benabbas; Nassira, Zabat; Imene, Hocini

Eco-friendly synthesis of self-regenerative low-cost biosorbent by the incorporation of CuO: a photocatalyst sensitive to visible light irradiation for azo dye removal

2020

Khaled, Benabbas | Nassira, Zabat | Imene, Hocini

Acid pretreated biomass Lemna minor (BM-H₃PO₄) was used as support for CuO nanoparticles loading, to investigate the dye biosorption capacity and the photocatalytic performance under artificial visible light. The surface morphology, crystal structure, elemental composition, and the bandgap of modified biomass have been determined using FE-SEM, XRD, EDX, XPS, FTIR, and UV-DR analysis. The results showed that NH₂ and P-O functional groups of (BM-H₃PO₄) can attract the copper ions (Cu²⁺), which can facilitate the loading of CuO nanoparticles hence, smaller nanoparticles with an average diameter of 21 nm was obtained. It was also found that when the CuO was incorporated in BM-H₃PO₄ in a proper mass ratio of 0.4, the biosorption efficiency was enhanced to 3 times compared with BM-H₃PO₄ and reached a maximum of 91%, at a dye concentration of 20 mg/L, solution pH equal to 5, and an ambient temperature of 25 °C. Furthermore, CuO-modified BM-H₃PO₄ exhibits a better photocatalytic activity than pure CuO in the presence of H₂O₂ and visible light irradiation, where the dye was completely removed and mineralized after 240 min, evidenced by COD measurement. The photocatalytic regeneration also shows that the biosorption efficiency was maintained at 91% over 3 cycles, indicating the significant self-regenerative capacity of the biosorbent.

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