Emerald eco-synthesis: harnessing oleander for green silver nanoparticle production and advancing photocatalytic MB degradation with TiO2&CuO nanocomposite

Abstract

The tertiary composite of TiO₂/CuO @ Ag (TCA) were synthesized by the solid state method using different ratios of TiO₂/CuO NCs and Ag NPs. The structural, morphological, and optical properties of nanocomposites were analyzed by scanning electron microscope, Transmission electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectra, UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectra (UV-Vis/DRS) and photoluminescence spectrophotometry. The results showed enhanced activity of TCA hybrid nano crystals in oxidizing MB in water under visible light irradiation compared to pure TiO₂. The photocatalytic performance TCA samples increased with suitable Ag content. The results show that the photo degradation efficiency of the TiO₂ compound improved from 13 to 85% in the presence of TiO₂-CuO and to 98.87% in the presence of Ag containing TiO₂-CuO, which is 7.6 times higher than that of TiO₂. Optical characterization results show enhanced nanocomposite absorption in the visible region with long lifetimes between e/h+ at optimal TiO₂-CuO/Ag (TCA₂) ratio. Reusable experiments indicated that the prepared TCA NC photo catalysts were stable during MB photo degradation and had practical applications for environmental remediation.