Maria Luisa Valenzuela Valdes

TITLE:

Preparation of CuO by solventless method and its photocatalytic activity against methylene blue

ABSTRACT:

The semiconductor oxide CuO was prepared by a solvent-free method from the macromolecular precursors Chitosan●[(Cu(NO 3 ) 2 ] n , and PSP-4-PVP●[(Cu(NO 3 ) 2 ] n PSP-4-PVP = poly(styrene-co-4-vinylpyridine) using a thermal treatment. The two products CuO from Chitosan CuO-CHI) and CuO from PSP-4-PVP (CuO-PSVP)) and having band gap values 3.41 eV and 3,59 eV and particle sizes of 23.5 nm and 23.1 nm respectively, present morphologies that depend on the precursor polymer used in their synthesis. For CuO from the Chitosan precursor a highly porous “sponge” type morphology was observed while for CuO from PSP-4-PVP polymer a fused grain morphology was observed. The photocatalytic properties of CuO obtained from both precursors were tested against methylene blue degradation. In the absence of H 2 O 2 a low photocatalytic degradation of 42.1% and 32.7% for CuO from Chitosan and PSP-4-PVP respectively, was observed. While in the presence of H 2 O 2 a high photodegradation of 81.6% and 91.3% for CuO from Chitosan and PSP-4-PVP , respectively, was observed. The degradation reactions of methylene blue in both cases in the absence of H 2 O 2 and in the
presence of H 2 O 2 follow pseudo-first order kinetics.

BIO:

Dr. Maria Luisa Valenzuela, is currently Decana Facultad de Ingeniería, Directora Magister Economía Circular Industrial, Profesor Titular, Grupo de, Investigación en Energía y Procesos Sustentables, Instituto de Ciencias Aplicadas. Universidad Autónoma de Chile.