Catalytic Reduction of Methylene Blue Dye by Copper Oxide Nanoparticles

In this paper, the precipitation method was used to synthesize CuO nanoparticles (NPs). Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and Cetyltrimethylammonium Bromide (CTAB) were used as a surfactant to modify the surface morphology of the CuO NPs. To investigate the characteristics of the CuO NPs, X-ray diffraction technique (XRD), X-Ray photoelectron spectrometry (XPS), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) were used. The catalytic activities of as prepared CuO NPs were evaluated by monitoring reduction of MB dye in the presence of NaBH4 as reducing agent. Effect of catalyst mass, concentration of NaBH4 and concentration of MB dye were investigated. The best results for the reduction of MB dye were obtained by the CuO–SDS catalyst. The results showed that 10 min of reaction time was sufficient to have the total degradation of MB dye. The reuse of the CuO–SDS catalyst for five cycles has shown interesting results via the reduction of MB dye without losing its effectiveness.