Development of Cu-doped NiO nanoscale material as efficient photocatalyst for visible light dye degradation

We report herein the synthesis and characterization of Cu-doped NiO nanoparticles having new morphology with tuned band gap as an efficient photocatalyst using visible light for the removal of alizarin red dye from aqueous solutions. Composites were prepared using different Cu doping ratios via co-precipitation method followed by calcination at two different temperatures. SEM image of Cu-doped NiO (20% Cu doping) is interestingly different from the NiO particles, and different calcination temperatures (400 and 600 °C) greatly affected the morphology of NPs. Lower calcination temperature yielded nanocapsules, whereas the higher calcination produced hexagonal shaped slightly bigger NPs.