Fabrication of mesoporous CuO/ZrO2-MCM-41 nanocomposites for photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI)

Mesoporous nanocomposites of CuO/ZrO2–MCM-41 (CuO@ZM-41) was designed by incorporating mesoporous ZrO2 (Z) into the high surface area MCM-41 (M-41) framework followed by loading CuO by wetness impregnation method keeping Si/Zr ratio 10. The nanocomposites were studied under PXRD, N2 sorption, DRS spectra, FTIR, XPS, NMR, HRTEM and PL to evaluate structural, morphological, optical properties and also the mesoporosity nature of the samples. The photo-reduction of Cr6+ was performed over CuO@ZM-41 by varying pH, substrate concentration, and irradiation time and catalyst dose. Among all the catalysts, 2 CuO@ZM-41 was found to be efficient photocatalyst for the photo-reduction of Cr6+. Nearly 100% reduction of Cr6+ has been achieved by 2 CuO@ZM-41 within 30 min. Intra-particle mesoporosity, high surface area, presence of CuO nanorods and electron transfer properties are the key factors for enhancing the photo-reduction activity of 2CuO@ZM-41.