Fabrication of Nio Dopped Cuo Nanosheets Decorated with Resorcinol Farmaldehyde Resin for Enhanced Photocatalytic Application

Abstract

The quest for z-scheme efficient photo catalytic system has been proved to be an impressive approach to enhance reactivity and selectivity for carbon dioxide conversion into value-added energy dense molecules to cope with the increasing clean energy demand in future. Herein, we developed a versatile strategy for the Z-scheme heterojunction synthesis of NiO doped CuO well defined hexagonal nanosheets decorated with RF (Resorcinol-Formaldehyde resin). The Photo-generated electrons migrate to NiO doped CuO from the π-π stacking in benzenoid-quinoid conjugated system of RF resin, where these electrons are accommodated by carbonyl group of quinoid acceptor unit, and the positive holes leave in semiconductor heterojunction for water oxidation. The nanosheets morphology of NiO doped CuO has enhanced surface area, active sites, improved charge separation and elevated CO2 reduction potential of the heterojunction. The small HOMO-LUMO gap of RF resin facilitate migration of electrons from the CB of RF to VB of CuO. The photocatalytic degradation of the 2,4-DCP was investigated which is 95% per hour. We claim the highest activity achievement in terms of CO2 reduction (230 μ mol g-1 h-1) which is 6 folds greater than the pure CuO (39.5 μ mol g-1 h-1) photocatalyst and pollutant degradation of the heterojunction till date.