Synthesis and characterization of CuO@NiO/g-C3N4 nanocomposite for photocatalytic and electrochemical application

Abstract

In this work, pristine g-C3N4 and CuO@NiO/g-C3N4 nancomposite (NC’s) were created and examined for their application in dye degradation and as supercapacitors. The physical, chemical and optical properties of the synthesized material were determined using XRD, HR-SEM, EDX, TEM, XPS, Raman, UV-DRS, PL and BET studies. The CuO@NiO/g-C3N4 NC’s had higher photocatalytic degradation efficiency (98.38 %) at pH 10 ± 0.1 with velocity constant, k = 0.074 min−1 than pure g-C3N4 (75.1 %; k = 0.023 min−1) against rhodamine-B (RhB). The CuO@NiO/g-C3N4 NC’s shows a higher capacitance value of 170.17 F/g than pure g-C3N4 (135.04 Fg−1) at 0.1 A/g in 2 M KOH. The CuO@NiO/g-C3N4 NC’s show 90 % electrochemical property retention even after 2000 GCD cycles, which is one of the primary advantages of long-term applications. The conductivity of the CuO@NiO/g-C3N4 NC’s shows σ = 3.72 × 10−3 S/cm determined by EIS analysis. Due to the CuO@NiO/g-C3N4 nanohybrid outstanding performance in both photocatalysis and electrocatalysis, it has become known as a promising, long-lasting catalyst.

Keywords

• Nanocomposite
• Photocatalysis
• Supercapacitors
• EIS
• GCD