Fabrication of novel CuWO4 nanoparticles (NPs) for photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue in aqueous solution

Abstract

In this paper, the UV–Vis photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) by copper tungstate (CuWO4) has been studied in neutral aqueous heterogeneous suspensions CuWO4 nanochains and nanoparticles were synthesized via solvothermal method. CuWO4 was evaluated regarding a photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes, which is highly important to decontaminate water. Our results demonstrate that the CuWO4 nanoparticles have a better photocatalytic degradation performance than nanochains, and the nanoparticles with 86% of MB degradation is obtained after 90 min UV–Vis irradiation. Further, the MB degradation process follows Langmuir–Hinshelwood mechanism first order kinetics, in the process of MB degradation, O2− and ·OH acted as the main reactive species. This work provides an overall strategy for further study on the catalysts for photo degradation of organic pollutant.