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International Conference on

Recent Trends in Environmental Sustainability

ESCON22/NMsB/04
Photocatalysis of azo dyes in an aqueous medium using nickel (NiO) nanoparticles and
NiO-copper oxide nanocomposite

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Hajra Ahsan , Muhammad Shahid , Muhammad Imran , Sabir Hussain , Faisal Mahmood ,
Tanvir Shahzad 1*
1 Department of Environmental Sciences, Government College University Faisalabad
2 Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University Faisalabad
3 Department of Environmental Sciences, CUI Vehari Campus
Correspondence: tanvirshahzad@gcuf.edu.pk
Abstract
A chemical method (co-precipitation) was used to synthesize nanoparticles of Nickel (II) oxide
(NiO) and copper oxide (CuO) as well as their their nanocomposite (NiO/CuO) for
photocatalytic degradation of azo dyes viz. Reactive red-2 (RR-2) and Orange II sodium salt
(OII) in aqueous medium. The synthesized nanomaterials were characterized by advance
analytical techniques e.g. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to confirm the
functional groups, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to investigate surface morphology,
and X-ray diffraction (XRD) study for analysis of their average crystallite size, purity and
shape. The photocatalytic degradation efficiency of nanomaterials was assessed under various
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factors e.g. catalytic doses viz. 0.02-0.1 g/10mL , dyes concentration viz. 20-100 mgL , and
irradiation time viz. 60-120 min. Moreover, the experimental models such as, Langmuir and
Freundlich (isotherm/equilibrium) and pseudo-first-order, and pseudo-second-order (kinetics)
were also tested for adsorption studies. At optimum concentration of RR-2 and OII dyes,
degradation ability of nanomaterials was shown as: NiO-NPs (90 and 40%), CuO-NPs (49 and
44%) and NiO/CuO (92 and 96%), respectively. Overall percentage rate was NiO/CuO > NiO-
NPs > CuO-NPs. Among all the nanomaterials used in this paper, the enhanced degradation
ability shown by NiO/CuO due to high surface area, small particles size, and high reactivity.
The results revealed that nanocomposite are very effective and promising for the degradation
of azo dyes from wastewater.
Keywords: Transition metals; Nanocomposite; Photocatalyst; Adsorption; Dyes degradation

Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Vehari Campus

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