Synthesis and Investigation of Pure and Cu-Doped NiO Nanofilms for Future Applications in Wastewater Treatment Rejected by Textile Industry

Malika Allali , Mohamed Amine Dahamni , Mostefa Ghamnia , Abdelwahab Boukhachem , Djamel Boukrédimi , Didier Tonneau (1) , Carole Fauquet

1 CINaM - Centre Interdisciplinaire de Nanoscience de Marseille

Pure and Cu-doped NiO films were synthesized via a soft chemical process. They were deposited on glass substrates heated to 400 °C. Different atomic percentage ratios (2, 4, 6, 8, and 10%) of Cu-doping were used. The prepared samples were characterized by several techniques such as X-ray diffraction for crystallographic study, SEM and AFM for microstructural and morphological properties, and UV-Visible spectroscopy for optical and photocatalytical analysis. XRD results of pure and Cu-doped NiO films indicated the formation of NiO polycrystalline phases under a cubic structure with a favored orientation along the (200) plane noticed in all sprayed films. SEM images revealed the formation of NiO nanoparticles of spherical forms whose sizes increase and agglomerate with increasing Cu-doping. At 10% Cu-doping, NiO agglomeration was extended to the whole surface. AFM images showed a textured and rough surface composed of NiO nanoparticles of average size varying from 16 to 10 nm depending on Cu-doping concentration. UV-visible spectroscopy confirmed the transparency of NiO films and their semiconducting character with a band gap ranging from 3.4450 eV to 2.8648 eV. The photocatalytical properties of pure and Cu-NiO films were enhanced by Cu-doping particles as revealed by the degradation of methylene blue (MB) solution subjected to irradiation.

Mots clés: NiO synthesis; spray pyrolysis; Cu-doping; nanograins; photocatalytic properties

Domaines: Physique [physics]; Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]

Malika Allali, Mohamed Amine Dahamni, Mostefa Ghamnia, Abdelwahab Boukhachem, Djamel Boukrédimi, et al.. Synthesis and Investigation of Pure and Cu-Doped NiO Nanofilms for Future Applications in Wastewater Treatment Rejected by Textile Industry. Catalysts, 2022, 12 (9), pp.931. ⟨10.3390/catal12090931⟩. ⟨hal-04236308⟩