Surface Plasmon response of Pd deposited ZnO/CuO nanostructures with enhanced photocatalytic efficacy towards the degradation of organic pollutants

Herein, we have synthesized novel noble metal Pd deposited ZnO/CuO (8:1) nano-composites using simple single step deposition method with different weight percentage. The morphological, structural, elemental and optical characteristics of synthesized materials were uncovered by using different techniques such as FESEM, TEM, XRD, XPS and UVDRS. The synthesized materials are highly crystalline in nature. To evaluate the de-gradation efficacy of synthesized nano-composite materials, two organic pollutants; rhodamine B and triclopyr, are taken into account. The complete degradation of RhB and TCP is observed in 20 and 60 min. The nano composite with 2% Pd shows highest efficacy towards the photodegradation of pollutants. The better photo degradation efficacy of synthesized nano-composite materials is attributed to appropriate amount of Pd de-position which helps in shifting the absorption towards NIR region and efficiently reduces the recombination rate of charge carriers.