Facile synthesis of copper carbonate/cobalt carbonate/manganese carbonate and copper oxide/cobalt manganese oxide/manganese oxide as novel nanocomposites for efficient photocatalytic degradation of crystal violet dye

In this work, copper carbonate/cobalt carbonate/manganese carbonate and copper oxide/cobalt manganese oxide/manganese oxide new nanocomposites were fabricated via precipitation of Cu(II)/Co(II)/Mn(II) solution using sodium carbonate and ignition of precipitate at 600°C for 3 h, respectively. Several instruments, including UV–Vis spectrophotometer, X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), transmission electron microscope (TEM), nitrogen gas sorption analyser, and field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), were used to characterise the fabricated nanocomposites. Energy dispersive X-ray investigation confirmed that the composite produced owing to precipitation by sodium carbonate comprises carbon, oxygen, manganese, cobalt, and copper where the weight percentages are equal to 27.15, 52.49, 5.59, 5.75, and 9.02%, respectively. In addition, the composite produced owing to ignition at 600°C for 3 h comprises oxygen, manganese, cobalt, and copper where the weight percentages are equal to 8.62, 31.50, 38.58, and 21.30%, respectively. Transmission electron microscope examination confirmed that the composites produced owing to precipitation by sodium carbonate and ignition at 600°C for 3 h comprise polyhedral and spherical shapes with an average diameter of 36.85 and 22.34 nm, respectively. The BET surface area, average pore size, and total pore volume of the composite produced owing to precipitation by sodium carbonate are 29.8662 m2/g, 2.1634 nm, and 0.0323 cc/g, respectively. In addition, the BET surface area, average pore size, and total pore volume of the composite produced owing to ignition at 600°C for 3 h are 33.3714 m2/g, 5.2308 nm, and 0.0873 cc/g, respectively. 0.06 g of the fabricated nanocomposites degrade 100% of 60 mL of 15 mg/L of crystal violet dye solution within 20 min in the presence of hydrogen peroxide under UV irradiation.