Novel synthesis of Cu–ZnO heterostructure for photoelectric, medicinal, and sun-light dye degradative applications

The prepared nano ZnO and Cu-doped ZnO nanocomposite materials were prepared by the sol–gel method and were employed as photocatalysts for the degradation of Cu-doped ZnO dye in aqueous solution. The nanocomposite material was characterized by HR-SEM, EDX, HR-TEM, PL, and UV-DRS. The HR-SEM, HR-TEM, and XRD analysis studies illustrated that Cu-doped ZnO is a nanoflower and spherical-shaped structure. The PL and DRS results showed low intensity and low band gap energy, indicating high efficiency of the photocatalyst by doped material. This doped material has high degradation of Rhodamine 6G dye, which was 92%, and that of ZnO was 77%, and the prepared catalyat was stable and reusable. Other applications of DSSC, CV, and antibacterial activity were recognized and studied further.