Investigation of boron-doped graphene oxide anchored with copper sulphide flowers as visible light active photocatalyst for methylene blue degradation

Ahmad Farhan; Muhammad Zahid; Noor Tahir; Asim Mansha; Muhammad Yaseen; Ghulam Mustafa; Mohammed A Alamir; Ibrahim M Alarifi; Imran Shahid

doi:10.1038/s41598-023-36486-6

Investigation of boron-doped graphene oxide anchored with copper sulphide flowers as visible light active photocatalyst for methylene blue degradation

Sci Rep. 2023 Jun 12;13(1):9497. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-36486-6.

Authors

Ahmad Farhan¹, Muhammad Zahid², Noor Tahir¹, Asim Mansha³, Muhammad Yaseen⁴, Ghulam Mustafa⁵, Mohammed A Alamir⁶, Ibrahim M Alarifi⁷, Imran Shahid⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 38040, Pakistan.
² Department of Chemistry, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 38040, Pakistan. rmzahid@uaf.edu.pk.
³ Department of Chemistry, G. C. University, Faisalabad, 38040, Pakistan.
⁴ Department of Physics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, University of Okara, Okara, Pakistan.
⁶ Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Jazan University, Jazan, 45142, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, Majmaah University, Al-Majmaah, Riyadh, 11952, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Environmental Science Centre (ESC), Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar. ishahid@qu.edu.qa.

Abstract

The non-biodegradable nature of waste emitted from the agriculture and industrial sector contaminates freshwater reserves. Fabrication of highly effective and low-cost heterogeneous photocatalysts is crucial for sustainable wastewater treatment. The present research study aims to construct a novel photocatalyst using a facile ultrasonication-assisted hydrothermal method. Metal sulphides and doped carbon support materials work well to fabricate hybrid sunlight active systems that efficiently harness green energy and are eco-friendly. Boron-doped graphene oxide-supported copper sulphide nanocomposite was synthesized hydrothermally and was assessed for sunlight-assisted photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye. BGO/CuS was characterized through various techniques such as SEM-EDS, XRD, XPS, FTIR, BET, PL, and UV-Vis DRS spectroscopy. The bandgap of BGO-CuS was found to be 2.51 eV as evaluated through the tauc plot method. The enhanced dye degradation was obtained at optimum conditions of pH = 8, catalyst concentration (20 mg/100 mL for BGO-CuS), oxidant dose (10 mM for BGO-CuS), and optimum time of irradiation was 60 min. The novel boron-doped nanocomposite effectively degraded methylene blue up to 95% under sunlight. Holes and hydroxyl radicals were the key reactive species. Response surface methodology was used to analyze the interaction among several interacting parameters to remove dye methylene blue effectively.