Photocatalytic Degradation of Methylene Blue Dye Using Copper Selenide Nanoparticles Prepared by Co- Precipitation Method

The industrial dye pollutants directly affect the aquatic animals and humans. Among these methylene blue (MB) dye is highly toxic, non-degradable, carcinogenic and responsible for major health issues for humans and hazardous to the environment. In present work, we were mainly put efforts for the low-cost synthesis of Cu1.8Se nanoparticles (NPs), annealed as-synthesized sample at 200 C and then utilized it for photodegradation of toxic MB dye. The structural, morphological and optical properties were studied by X-ray diffraction, TEM, SEM, EDX, UV-Visible, FTIR spectroscopy techniques. Cu1.8Se NPs crystallized in cubic structural phase with crystallites size around 20 nm. The TEM micrographs confirmed the formation of random shaped and sized particles of size ranges from 15 nm 50 nm. SEM and EDAX results showed the presence of copper (Cu) and selenium (Se) elements. The direct band gaps of sample A (as-prepared) and sample B (annealed) were found to be 2.0 and 2.1 eV, respectively. FTIR spectra showed the bands of Cu-Se bending and stretching vibrations. The photocatalytic activities against MB dye shows that Cu1.8Se NPs could serve as a potential catalyst for breaking down of MB Dye and degrade in the presence of incandescent bulb light Hence, Cu1.8Se NPs is self sufficient for the removal of dissolved toxic contaminations from the industrial waste water as well as other polluted water resources.