Hydrothermal Synthesis of Copper-Decorated Titanium Dioxide
Spherulites and their Photocatalytic Activity against Reactive Dyes

The untreated discharge of industrial dyes into water supplies is a likely occurrence that can cause a
number of dangerous scenarios that are hazardous for the ecology. Herein, a simple hydrothermal
strategy for synthesizing copper-doped titanium dioxide nanoparticles (Cu-TiO2) were presented and
investigated its ability to photocatalytically degrade dyes e.g. reactive black 5 (RB5), red 198 (RR198)
and yellow 145 dyes (RY145). Firstly, the as-synthesized Cu-TiO2 nanoparticles were characterized
using powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), UV-diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-DRS), high
resolution-scanning electron microscopy (HR-SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM)
techniques. Furthermore, the photocatalysis experiments were conducted using three reactive dye
solutions at different concentrations, pH, duration, etc. The spherulitic Cu-TiO2 photocatalyst exhibited
superior catalytic activity against the dyes and was able to achieve 82, 88 and 90% efficiencies for
RB5, RR198 and RY145 dyes, respectively. The kinetics and the reusability parameters were also
elaborated with respect to the obtained results. Therefore, Cu-TiO2 spherulites are professed to be
effectual photocatalyst materials for industrial scale dye degradation.