Visible light degradation of textile effluent using nanostructured TiO$_2$ photocatalysts

TiO$_2$, Ag and CuO nanomaterials, and nanostructured TiO$_2$/Ag/CuO photocatalytic materials coupled in different weight percentages were synthesized. The prepared materials were characterized by XRD, SEM, EDX and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Photocatalytic degrading capabilities of the pure, as well as the nanostructured TiO$_2$/Ag/CuO photocatalytic materials were tested on the dye effluent collected from the textile industries. The samples collected during the photocatalytic degradation of textile dye effluent were studied with UV-Vis spectroscopy. The nanostructured TiO$_2$Ag/CuO photocatalyst with the composition of 80:10:10 weight percentage exhibited remarkable performance. Coupling of Ag metal nanoparticles and narrow bandgap CuO semiconductor nanomaterial to the wide bandgap TiO$_2$ semiconductor nanomaterial was found to modify the operative bandgap of the system and generate electron-hole pairs under visible light irradiation. The coupled TiO$_2$/Ag/CuO system facilitates improved electron transfer to the adsorbed molecules, and thus the system improves the photocatalytic degradation of dyes by enhanced redox mechanism.