Visible light driven degradation of brilliant green dye using titanium based ternary metal oxide photocatalyst

We report a novel copper and cobalt impregnated titanium based ternary metal oxide nanocomposite (CuCO0.5Ti0.5O2) synthesized via simple chemical method. X-ray diffraction pattern and SAED pattern reveals the well crystallinity (R (3) over tildem space group) and phase purity of the synthesized sample. TEM micrograph shows the nano size and heterostructure of the product. Nanoporous nature of the synthesized product is observed from BET analysis. The incorporation of the copper and cobalt in titanium oxide nanoparticle host modifies the band gap of the host and a broadband absorption spectrum (similar to 325 nm to 800 nm) of the nanocomposite is observed from the UV-Vis-NIR absorption spectroscopy analysis. Photoluminescence (PL) spectrum confirms generation of sufficient electron-hole pairs which could actively participate in photodegradation activity. Photocatalytic performance of the product has been investigated by degrading brilliant green (BG) dye, which shows excellent activity with increased catalytic material loading. The photocatalytic activity is enhanced at high pH level of the solution. Reusability experiments confirms that the catalyst material is reusable with almost same efficiency for degrading BG dye. Wavelength selective photocatalytic degradation of BG dye reveals that the CuCO0.5Ti0.5O2 nanocomposite shows the highest activity under blue-green illumination.