RSC Advances
Dielectric, optical and enhanced photocatalytic properties of CuCrO2 nanoparticles
Herein, delafossite CuCrO2 nanoparticles were synthesized through a polymeric citrate precursor method,
followed by heating at 900 C in air. The BET surface area of the CuCrO2 nanoparticles was found to be 235
m2 g1, which was more than 500 times that of bulk CuCrO2 (0.47 m2 g1) and 2–4 times that of the
reported CuCrO2 nanoparticles (50–100 m2 g1) (Y.-T. Nien et al., Mater. Chem. Phys., 2016, 179, 182–
188 and D. Xiong et al., J. Mater. Chem., 2012, 22, 24760–24768). In the photoluminescence spectra of
the CuCrO2 nanoparticles, a strong luminescent emission peak was observed at 460 nm in the blue
light region. The resulting transmittance value of the CuCrO2 nanoparticles was found to be 77% in the
visible region, and the direct band gap energy was determined to be 3.09 eV via UV-vis spectroscopy.
The dielectric properties as a function of frequency and temperature and photocatalytic degradation of
the organic pollutants in an aqueous solution were also investigated. CuCrO2 nanoparticles also showed
remarkable enhancement in the catalytic degradation of methylene blue in H2 O under sunlight
irradiation. The plausible fragmentation and the structural changes in the methylene blue molecule were
further demonstrated via mass spectrometry.
Brick shaped nanoparticles of nickel tungstate (NiWO4) were synthesized magnificently using the molten
salts process at 500 1C. Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and electron microscopy…
Yttrium Ferrite nanoparticles were prepared by citrate precursor method at reasonably low temperature.
Morphological and elemental studies reveal the formation of monophasic orthorhombic…
Herein, delafossite CuCrO2 nanoparticles were synthesized through a polymeric citrate precursor method,
followed by heating at 900 C in air. The BET surface area of the CuCrO2…