Degradation of Methylene Blue Using Synthesized Nanostructured CuO with High Specific Surface Area through Catalytic Oxidation
Amine El Farrouji
Département de Chimie, Laboratoire Biotechnologie et Valorisation des Ressources Naturelles, Faculté des Sciences Ibn Zohr, Agadir, Morocco
Abderrahim Chihab Eddine
Département de Chimie, Laboratoire Biotechnologie et Valorisation des Ressources Naturelles, Faculté des Sciences Ibn Zohr, Agadir, Morocco
Soumaya Elamal Bouzit
Département de Physique, Laboratoire de Physique du Solide et des Couches Minces, Université Cadi Ayyad, Faculté des Sciences Semlalia Marrakech Morocco and Département de Chimie, Laboratoire Chimie de Coordination et Catalyse, Faculté des Sciences Semlalia, Marrakech, Morocco
Brahim Boualy
Département de Chimie, Laboratoire de Chimie et Modélisation Mathématique, Université Hassan 1er, Faculté Polydisciplinaire de Khouribga, B.P. 145, 25000 Khouribga, Morocco
Ahmad Mehdi
Département de Chimie Moléculaire et Macromoléculaire, Institut Charles Gerhardt Montpellier, UMR 5253, Chimie Moléculaire et Organisation du Solide, Université Montpellier. Place E. Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
Larbi El Firdoussi *
Département de Chimie, Laboratoire Chimie de Coordination et Catalyse, Faculté des Sciences Semlalia, Marrakech, Morocco
Mustapha Ait Ali
Département de Chimie, Laboratoire Chimie de Coordination et Catalyse, Faculté des Sciences Semlalia, Marrakech, Morocco
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Nanostructured CuO (CuO Nst) with specific surface area of 144.473 m2/g has been successfully synthesized via a facile solution-phase method at room temperature. As prepared CuO was characterized using x-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The synthesized CuO was demonstrated as efficient and re-used catalyst in degradation of methylene blue in the presence of sodium hypochlorite through catalytic oxidation. More than 95% of the methylene blue was degraded after 30 min. After 5 successive catalytic cycles, the as-prepared CuO still remained its original catalytic activity, exhibiting good reusability and durability.
Keywords: Methylene blue, degradation, nanocrystalline copper (II) oxide, current efficiency, reusability