Rapid and facile microwave-assisted synthesis of Cu2V2O7/graphene nanocomposite as a novel catalyst for degradation of organic dyes

Abstract

For the first time, Cu₂V₂O₇/graphene nanocomposite with 20–30 nm in size has been prepared by solid state decomposition microwave method in short time. The obtained nanocomposite have been fully characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The photocatalytic property of the nanocomposite has been investigated for degradation of methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) dye pollutants in aqueous solution under solar light (average light intensity of 180 mW cm^-2) and ultrasound (250 W) irradiation at room temperature. The band gap of the Cu₂V₂O₇/graphene nanocomposite is found to be 4.4 eV.